Dayton woman faces third DUI charge

A Dayton woman faces a felony DUI charge, the third one if convicted, after she was discovered driving erratically by an off-duty Carson City sheriff's deputy.

Stephanie Dale Sawyer, 31, was arrested Monday, Dec. 3, at 1:39 p.m. According to an officer's report, authorities were dispatched to the 800 block of Fairview Drive regarding a possible DUI driver. Upon arrival the arresting officer made contact with an off-duty Carson City sheriff's deputy who witnessed the driver's behavior.

He said that he observed a white Isuszu Rodeo traveling northbound on Kansas Street having swerved and nearly hit another car. He said the vehicle then went in reverse on Kansas Street at a high rate of speed and then pulled into a business parking lot, the arrest report states.

The woman got out of the vehicle and approached the driver door of the off-duty deputy's vehicle. The woman asked the deputy for a phone charger. The off-duty deputy said he could smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from the woman's breath and that she was slurring her speech and had red watery eyes, the arrest report states.

The deputy told the female he did not have a phone charger. The woman then went back to her vehicle and sat in the driver's seat and fell asleep, according to the arrest report. The off-duty officer maintained a constant visual of the woman.

Arriving officers made contact with the woman who was asleep. The vehicle was turned off but the keys were in the ignition. When the officer opened the door he smelled a strong odor of alcoholic beverage coming from inside the car and from her breath, the arrest report states.

The officer asked the woman to exit the vehicle. The woman admitted to drinking but did not go into detail and could not maintain her balance. She also refused to take a Standardized Field Sobriety Test and a Preliminary Breath Test, the report states.

The woman was placed under arrest for suspicion of DUI. She was read the Nevada Implied Consent law and she chose, without hesitation, to have a blood test. While in detention authorities learned she was convicted of a DUI in Douglas County in May 2009 and convicted of a second DUI in South Lake Tahoe in September, 2011.

In other arrests:

A 22-year-old Washoe Valley man faces misdemeanor charges including DUI and reckless driving after authorities pulled him over at the intersection of John and Fall streets at shortly after 4 a.m.
According to the arrest report the man was observed in a Blue Jeep Cherokee leaving a bar, with sudden acceleration and then having "peeled out" on Stewart Street in the southbound lane, according to the arrest report.

The vehicle turned on John Street and squealed its tires in the process, again with rapid acceleration and then turned into a local business, stopped, parked and turned out the lights.

Dispatch advised officers the man did not have a valid driver's license and the vehicle plates did not match the vehicle to a Jeep Cherokee but to a Dodge pickup, according to the arrest report.

As officers spoke with the man they noticed he emitted a strong odor of alcohol from his breath. The man stated he had consumed five beers throughout the evening because it was his birthday. He agreed to participate in a field sobriety tests in which the arresting officer states in his report that there were six clues indicating impairment.

During the walk and turn and one leg test, the man could not perform as explained and demonstrated. The man was given to breath tests with samples coming back at .163 and .164, according to the arrest report. The legal limit in Nevada is .08. In addition to the DUI and reckless charges, the man also faces misdemeanor driving without a valid driver's license and fictitious registration.

In a related case, a 21-year-old Carson City woman faces a DUI charge and two additional misdemeanors after she had been with the 22-year-old man who was arrested earlier.

The two had gotten into an argument before his arrest and she was seen walking away and then, later observed driving, in which she came up behind an officer's vehicle.

The woman then began to drive northbound on Stewart Street and then eastbound on Corbett Street. About 20 seconds after the vehicle turned again, the woman was seen getting out and walking across Stewart Street near where the vehicle was parked.

The woman then walked up to an officer and asked asked why the 22-year-old man was arrested. The officer said it wasn't her business and asked where her car was for which the woman replied "What car?" The officer described the car and the woman nodded her head, according to the arrest report.

She agreed to take a field sobriety test in which she performed with unsatisfactory results, the report states. She was given a preliminary breath test at the scene which registered a .140. She was teken to jail and red the Nevada implied consent law which she selected for her evidentiary test. She gave samples of .161 and .160 at 5:06 a.m. and 5:10 a.m., respectively. The woman also faces charges of suspended registration and being an intoxicated pedestrian.