HELMSBURG — Police were called to a home in Helmsburg early in the morning May 4 for an intoxicated woman making threats. She was ultimately charged with a felony and four misdemeanors.
Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy Josh Stargell reported in a probable cause affidavit that he and other officers responded to the call just after 1 a.m. A man there motioned for Stargell to come talk to him, which upset the intoxicated woman, later identified as Dorothy Scott, 37, of Helmsburg. She stumbled up to the two telling the man to “shut his mouth” and that she wanted to tell her story, the police report said.
Stargell reported that Scott was highly intoxicated and was continuously drinking shots of vodka. She had unstable balance, slurred speech and poor dexterity, which was causing her to spill the vodka, he wrote.
Scott told police she had been on a methamphetamine “binge” for the past two weeks and that a man she works with usually gives her meth as payment for driving him to work.
Another woman at the scene said she wanted the keys back to a car Scott had been driving, because it was in her name and not Scott’s. This caused Scott to become irate because she said she had made a payment on the vehicle and paid the insurance, according to the affidavit.
While talking with the car owner and another woman at the scene, Stargell was given an E-cigarette and was told it was Scott’s weed pipe, the affidavit states.
Scott walked back out of the home to small front stoop where Stargell was standing. Scott continued walking toward Stargell, stepping on his foot and ankle, which caused her to fall down.
Scott denied owning the E-cigarette and tried to take it out of Stargell’s hand. Stargell reportedly jerked his hand away and told Scott not to touch him.
While yelling about the car keys, Scott fell into one of the women at the scene, causing her to fall face-down into the gravel, the report said.
While police were running the vehicle’s license plate to prove who the owner was, Scott began punching the driver’s side window, Stargell reported.
When she was told that she could be arrested for disorderly conduct, Scott continued to yell. She was then placed under arrest. Stargell reported that as he was trying to put handcuffs on, Scott pulled her arm away from him, but he was able to get her right arm behind her back.
A portable breath test showed Scott’s blood-alcohol content to be 0.22, almost three times the legal limit. She was taken to Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital before being booked into the jail.
On May 13, Scott was charged with battery against a public safety official, a Level 6 felony; resisting law enforcement, a Class A misdemeanor; criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor; public intoxication, a Class B misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, a Class B misdemeanor.
