City woman faces DUI, endangerment charge
Published 11:42 am Thursday, April 9, 2015
A city woman was charged with DUI after police reported finding her slumped over the steering wheel of her car at an intersection while her child was also in the vehicle.
Police arrested Pamela Cutshaw, 33, 1249 Bluefield Ave., Apt. E-4, early Wednesday morning and charged her with driving under the influence/child endangerment and first offense driving on a suspended license.
Elizabethton Police Department Officer Eric Buck was on patrol near the intersection of Broad Street and North Lynn Avenue shortly after 3 a.m. when he spotted a beige Ford Taurus stopped at the intersection. The officer watched as the car sat through two green lights without moving.
“I then pulled up beside the vehicle to see if the driver may have been distracted,” Buck said. That’s when he saw her slumped over the wheel.
Buck spoke with the woman and was able to identify her as Cutshaw. Also in the vehicle was Cutshaw’s 11-year-old daughter, Buck said.
“Cutshaw stated she dropped a cigarette in the floor board and that was her reason for being slumped over,” Buck said, adding Cutshaw’s speech was slurred when she spoke to him. Cutshaw admitted to taking Klonopin and Subutex, he said.
Buck had Cutshaw perform some basic field sobriety tests, both before and after she got out of the car, and she performed “poorly” on them, he said.
During the investigation, Buck learned Cutshaw’s license had been suspended earlier this year for failing to show proof of insurance.
Buck arrested Cutshaw and took her to the hospital, where a test was performed to check the alcohol and drug content of her blood. He then took her to the Carter County Detention Center.
Officers were able to find the child’s father and brought him to the scene. Officers then took the man and the child home.
Cutshaw appeared in Carter County General Sessions Court on Wednesday for arraignment before Judge Keith Bowers Jr. and she is scheduled to appear in that court again Friday. Cutshaw remains in the Carter County Detention Center on a bond of $2,500.