To Dodge DUI Charge, Woman Swilled Jail's Toilet Water: Cops

A Virginia DUI stop took an unusual turn in a jail bathroom, reports the Daily Progress. Police say 43-year-old Erin Elizabeth Hoopes of Charlottesville, a former Trump Winery employee, tried to sabotage an alcohol breath test by scooping liquid from a toilet bowl—described by an officer as containing urine—and drinking it, triggering a reset of the required 20-minute observation period. The move came after an Oct. 31 incident in which an Albemarle County police officer says Hoopes crashed her red Mini Cooper into his parked patrol car at a crash scene, then allegedly smelled strongly of alcohol and resisted being handcuffed. Neither the officer or Hoopes were injured, CBS19 noted at the time.

Despite the bathroom maneuver, a later test put her blood alcohol level at 0.26, more than triple Virginia's legal limit, according to a certificate of analysis cited by the paper. Hoopes pleaded guilty in July to second-offense DUI and hit-and-run; charges of obstruction and driving without a license were dropped. "She's very remorseful, and she's working on her problems, so she doesn't have to go through something like this again," her lawyer tells the Daily Progress. Hoopes remains jailed ahead of her Friday sentencing in Albemarle Circuit Court.