Woman accused of drinking and driving with child in vehicle, fighting officers
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - A woman was arrested for allegedly drinking and driving underage with a child in the backseat and fighting police officers during her arrest, according to the South Bend Police Department.
Durojai Mason, 20, was arrested on the following charges:
- Battery with bodily injury to a public safety officer
- Three counts of battery against a public safety official
- Battery by bodily waste, victim is a public safety officer
- Neglect of a dependent
- Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, endangering a person
- Resisting law enforcement
- Criminal mischief
- Minor consuming alcohol
- Knowingly or intentionally operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license
Just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, officers were called to an address on South 24th Street for a report that a vehicle had crashed into a fence.
When officers arrived, they saw a vehicle with a metal fence beneath its bumper sitting in the front yard and a woman getting out of the vehicle's driver's seat.
The woman, identified as Mason, told police she never learned how to drive and that she had been drinking before driving, according to reports.
As officers spoke with Mason, they found a young child in the back seat of the vehicle without a car seat or seatbelt on.
During Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, Mason allegedly threatened officers multiple times.
Because of weather, police decided to continue the tests at the police station.
In response to the decision, Mason allegedly punched a police officer.
Officers brought Mason to the ground and she began kicking her legs and resisting orders, police said.
At one point, Mason spit in an officer's face, bit another officer's hand, kicked a third officer in the leg and kicked a fourth in the chest, reports said.
When police got her into the back of the patrol vehicle, Mason kicked the window several times, police reported.
She was eventually arrested and taken to the St. Joseph County Jail on her charges.