A 26-year-old Ruston woman was arrested Aug. 28 on drunk driving and hit-and-run charges after officers responding to a reported crash found her driving away from the scene with the hood of her car raised.
Atyia C. Martin was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on counts of operating a vehicle while impaired, reckless operation of a vehicle, hit and run, no proof of insurance and expired registration, according to an affidavit. Bond was set at $1,500 on the impaired driving count and $1,000 each on the reckless operation and hit-and-run counts.
A Ruston police officer was dispatched at about 6:52 p.m. to the area of South Farmerville Street at East Line Avenue in reference to a reported hit-and-run crash. While en route, the officer saw a white Nissan Altima traveling south on South Farmerville Street with its hood raised and stopped the car just past East Vaughn Avenue.
Martin got out of the vehicle and approached the officer, saying she had just been struck by a truck farther down the roadway and that the other vehicle was at fault. She repeated the same account several times, and the officer detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage on her breath.
A supervisor arrived and advised Martin of her Miranda rights. Martin admitted to consuming an alcoholic beverage and agreed to perform standardized field sobriety tests, which she failed. She was placed under arrest and transported to the Lincoln Parish Detention Center, where a breathalyzer test showed a blood-alcohol content of 0.173%.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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