New Castle driving drunk arrests Indianapolis woman

NEW CASTLE, Ind. — An Indianapolis woman with a suspended license was arrested on her birthday this week after police say she drove with a child in the car to go get her nails done while she was nearly 3 times the legal alcohol limit.

According to the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, deputies arrested 47-year-old Stacey C. Booher of Indianapolis on Monday on multiple felony charges related to a drunk driving incident in New Castle.

HCSO said 911 dispatch began receiving calls around 7 p.m. that a dark-colored pickup truck was driving erratically near SR 38 and SR 38, reportedly nearly hitting the curb and crossing traffic lines.

Eventually, a deputy saw a black 2001 Dodge Ram stop next to a clearly marked stop line and drive left of the center line and stopped the vehicle.

The deputy had to knock on the driver’s side door to get the attention of the driver, later identified as Booher, court documents show. The deputy said he immediately recognized Booher from a previous incident and remembered she had a suspended driver’s license.

After confirming that Booher had a previous driving conviction, the deputy said she became “very argumentative” and presented a passport instead of a driver’s license.

“I asked Mrs. Buhr why she was driving and she angrily said, ‘Because I have to!’” Mrs. Buhr later told me that she was on her way to get her nails done.

The deputy then saw a young juvenile sitting in the front passenger seat of Booher’s vehicle and asked the woman if someone could come pick up the child, HCSO said. Booher then reportedly began calling someone to pick up the child, but was confused as to why.

When the deputy explained that Booher had been arrested for driving with a suspended license, she and the person who was speaking to her on the phone began pleading with him for “sympathy” because it was Booher’s birthday.

“Buhr continued to want to discuss that she couldn’t afford the engagement and that it was her birthday and she was trying hard to get her license back,” the deputy said. “While speaking with Ms. Buhr, he continued to detect a very faint odor typically associated with alcoholic beverages and noted that Ms. Buhr had glassy eyes.”

After the suspect fell through the open door of her vehicle, both Booher and the child were transported to the Henry County Sheriff’s Office. While Booher was first angry and then sad, the deputy noted that she became “cheerful” and “bubbly” once she was loaded into the police car.

Once she arrived at the Sheriff’s Office, Booher allegedly told deputies she was swerving her car while driving due to ADHD. She later reportedly admitted to having had “a couple of glasses of wine” and “a very large margarita on the top shelf” before driving.

“When describing the margarita, Ms. Booher placed her hands approximately 10 inches apart,” a police report said.

Booher was then given a total of three field sobriety tests, according to HCSO, including walk, turn, single-leg and horizontal gaze tests. She failed all three tests, deputies said.

The suspect then gave permission to take a chemical breath test to test her alcohol levels. After several tests, the Bohr samples were found to have a result of 0.208, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.

Booher was then booked into the Henry County Jail on the following charges:

• Drunk driving with a prior conviction (Level 6 felony)
• Operating a vehicle while intoxicated with a passenger under 18 (Level 6 felony)
• Driving while intoxicated (Class A misdemeanor)
• Driving while suspended (first degree misdemeanor)
• Public intoxication (Class B misdemeanor)

Online court records show Booher’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on November 14 in Henry County District Court.