Woman Charged with Drunk Driving After Head-on Crash

At the end of August 2008, Lisa Tanner was charged with operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol after her struck another car head on. This was her second offense, with charges including negligent operation of a motor vehicle, disorderly conduct with disturbing the peace, and a violation of open container laws within her vehicle at the time of the accident.

Moments before the accident, the police were searching for Tanner's Jeep after another motorist had flagged down a motorcycle officer. Officer John Hynes was alerted to the fact that the other motorist was nearly stuck by the Jeep SUV and the Jeep SUV was driving in an erratic manner. During his search for the Jeep, Hynes received the call reporting the head on accident on the narrow Olive st. bridge.

Upon arrival at the scene, the police had determined that the Jeep SUV was the same one that the motorist who flagged down Hynes had described before, and Tanner was taken into custody. Before and after being arrested, she became agitated and struck out at the press photographers, as well as other bystanders.

The other driver, who was in a red Ford Escort, suffered from injuries resulting form the crash as was taken to Sturdy Memorial Hospital for treatment of their injuries. The damage to his vehicle was quite extensive as a result of the accident. His name and extent of his injuries were not know at the time, waiting upon completion of police reports before being released to the press.

As a result of this tragic accident, the extensive damage to both vehicles affected the closing off of the bridge for about an hour as rescue workers cleaned up the wreckage of both vehicles, including spreading chemicals to absorb leaked fluids from both of the vehicles.