OLYMPIA, Wash. – A 60-year-old woman accused of driving the wrong way up Interstate 5 at more than 100 mph under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
Pamela Drawsby, of Olympia, entered the plea in Superior Court.
Prosecutors asked that she be confined to jail, but the judge allowed her to go home while she awaits trial. She was ordered to have an interlock device placed on her car before she's allowed to drive.
State troopers say it is a miracle that Drawsby didn't crash or kill someone while driving north in the southbound lanes of I-5 from Tumwater to Joint Base Lewis-McChord early Wednesday morning.
“I compare her to a bullet out of a gun; she was just waiting to hit something,” said Trooper Guy Gill with the Washington State Patrol.
Troopers tried using loudspeakers, sirens, and even spotlights shining into Drawsby's car to get her to stop. They eventually shut down the highway, and say Drawsby slowed to a halt when she saw the road block.
When troopers arrested her, she tested positive for alcohol, Gill said, and was above the legal limit of .08. She also admitted to taking prescription drugs, Gill added.
“The combination of any prescription medication – especially a narcotic and alcohol – that makes (the reaction time) worse on all accounts,” Gill said. “When we first got her stopped, she didn't even know she was on I-5.”
“This could've been so much worse,” he added. “The chances of surviving a head-on crash at 100 mph are virtually nonexistent.”