IDAHO FALLS – A 32-year-old woman was arrested Saturday after bystanders reported her following them around town and then crashing into their car.
Samantha Crotteau was charged with felony aggravated battery, misdemeanor DUI and failure to stop for damage, accident or leaving the scene.
Idaho Falls police were called to the intersection of East 3rd Street and South Holmes Avenue around 10:38 p.m. for a report of a possible road rage incident, according to court documents.
The tipping group told dispatch that his red Ford Fusion was parked outside a house when he and a friend noticed a gray Subaru Impreza driving “in strange patterns.”
They told police the car was making a “20-point turn.”
The two men pulled into the road and asked the driver of the Subaru, identified as Crotteau, if he needed anything.
Croteau replied that he was trying to sell them drugs and asked if they “wanted a molly.”
The man later told officers he thought Crotteau was “on some kind of drug or alcohol” because he was acting strange and slurring his words. He told Crotteau he didn’t want to buy drugs, according to the police report.
Crotteau then drove away but stopped at the end of the road without his lights on. The two men walked past her and she started to follow them.
They tried to drive through the neighborhood to lose her and eventually pulled into a motel parking lot, where Crotteau allegedly “pointed his vehicle at her and rear-ended” the Ford Fusion.
Crotteau continued to follow them after he had already beaten them.
The man told officers he was afraid of what else he might try, so he sped off on North Holmes Avenue near 25th Street. Both cars were going 100 mph.
The two men called the police from the car as they tried to find a safe place to pull over. Eventually, they lost Crotteau and ended up in a Maverik parking lot, where they waited for the police.
An officer saw Crotteau drive past him on Holmes Avenue and police took her into custody.
When officers spoke with Crotteau, police could “smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath.”
Police reports say his eyes were bloodshot and glassy.
When asked how much he had to drink that night, Crotteau said he had only had “one beer.”
Crotteau’s story was very different from that of the two men. He told officers he was trying to get his friends to leave a bar, and that’s when he crashed into the car.
She later changed her story and said she was driving down the road when the two men pulled her over.
Crotteau said he responded to the side scrolling by yelling, “Fuck you whore!” and deliberately “crash” the Ford Fusion.
Officers performed a field sobriety test and took Crotteau to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. She advised officers that she had previously been arrested for DUI and was booked into the Bonneville County Jail.
Even though Crotteau has been accused of a crime, that doesn’t necessarily mean she committed it. Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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