Driver’s plea ends OVI chase in Greene County

A suspected impaired driver crashed into a pole Wednesday morning, then was weaving on slick and snow-covered roadways across Greene County as she fled.

It was a “very dangerous situation,” sheriff’s Sgt. Beth Prall said Thursday. “Fortunately, the subject was not driving at a high rate of speed.”

Several people rushed to help the Moorefield Twp. woman after she crashed into a pole in Yellow Springs. It was what she said afterward that made law enforcement officials particularly anxious to catch her.

“In that moment she articulated to them that she was having suicidal ideations, she was going to kill herself and then fled the scene southbound on (U.S.) 68 toward Xenia,” Prall said.

Multiple cruisers followed as 54-year-old Tina Cooper drove her black 2007 Chevrolet Impala all over the road, left of center, veering into oncoming traffic. Authorities were concerned for other motorists and for the woman at the wheel.

“I was fearful that she might bump into other cars or run into other cars trying to get away, and fortunately once we crossed Main Street (in Xenia) we were in a place where there was substantially less traffic and she went about three blocks and then finally pulled over for us,” Prall said.

When Prall and a Xenia police cruiser blocked Cooper’s car in the 500 block of South Detroit Street just before 9:45 a.m., she was on the phone and sobbing, according to the traffic report. It took several minutes before she unlocked her door so an officer could reach in, put her car in park and take the keys.

That’s when she told officers she had taken 20 prescription pills. She said she wanted to die and had planned to drive head-on into a semi or train to end her life, according to the report.

Cooper, reportedly unable to stand without assistance, was taken to Greene Memorial Hospital.

One Xenia resident said she was glad no one else was hurt, but that it wasn’t right for the suspect to risk public safety.

“They need to be fined real big or something to teach them there’s other people’s lives beside their own,” Neva Faul said.

Cooper was cited for operating a vehicle under the influence and for leaving the scene of a crash in Yellow Springs, both misdemeanors.

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