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A woman charged with DUI after her car slammed through a Connecticut liquor store is blaming it all on Nyquil and Armor All.
A car driven by Sharon Brooks, 63, of East Haven crossed over the sidewalk and crashed through the front entrance of Yankee Discount Liquor at 664 Foxon Road around 2:30 p.m. Friday, according to police.
See the video and original report at NBCConnecticut.com
The car continued halfway into the store, striking the counter, crushing displays of wine and injuring an employee inside. The worker was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital with what police called minor injuries.
Brooks was charged with driving under the influence and reckless driving.
As she left East Haven Police headquarters, Brooks spoke exclusively to NBC Connecticut.
"I have a cold," Brooks said.
When asked if she had taken cold medicine, Brooks replied, "Nyquil and somebody cleaned the inside of my car and they put Armor All on my brake pad and my foot slipped off the brake pad."
Brooks further explained what happened by saying, "I never had the whole inside of my car cleaned before and this time I did so it would look really nice, and my foot slipped off the brake."
Deepak Pattani, the store's owner, says he's never seen anything like this crash in his eight years of doing business at this location.
"We were just waiting over there for the customers to come in and all of a sudden the car came in all the way, halfway through the store and we were just shocked," said Pattani.
He says Brooks is a regular customer at the store.
"If I was on alcohol I wouldn't be leaving now," said Brooks, just before she got into a taxi outside the police station.
Workers at the liquor store say they're just thankful things weren't worse.
"If I was cleaning or helping a customer I would have been killed," said Babu Khatiwada, a store employee.
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You just can't make stuff like this up!
The cops arrested her because they smelled an odor of alcohol.
It's been made up before and countless times.. Drunks hear about using the Nyquil defense when they're sloshing it up at the bar and even at arraignment (for those who've been to court before, as I'm sure she has).
She was pulling in to the liquor store to buy booze, and driving half way though the store is a "dead give-away" that she was messed up already.
If she was smashed on Nyquil, why was she going to buy booze too? Sounds like a drunk and a stupid drunk to me.
Her insurance company won't touch her now. Good luck finding auto insurance lady!
How in the world this this women get out of jail. She stumbled, still slurred her speach and as far as the recorded video goes she could not even climb into the TAXI without stumbling. I think the Taxi drive should be interrogiated and get this woman off of the streets.
Liquor stores harm the community. The community harmed the Liquor store. Justice.
Nyquil and Armor All. Such a deadly combination. Both should be outlawed.
If she was taking that much Nyquil, what was she doing driving to get booze? Making another "good" choice? What a fool!
Jeeze, how much NyQuil did she have?
Nyquil is 50 proof. A normal dose wouldn't put you into DUI territory, but if you sloshed down a few doses, it might. But it doesn't stop there. The other ingredients also produce drowsiness and can distort perceptions. Doxylamine, for example, is a fairly potent sleeping aid. In short, if you're going to take Nyquil, you should be at home, and heading for bed, not out driving around.
And reading those pesky instructions of warning just takes up time...
DUI means Driving Under the Influence. In some states, it's the influence of anything, not just alcohol. If she was not capable of driving safely due to the "Ny" part of NyQuil, her BAC can be 0.0 and she'd still get a DUI charge.
You can also get (depending on the state) a DUI or "Drugged Driving" charge for driving while under the influence of legally prescribed medication, even if you do not exceed the prescribed dose.
There are warning labels on all prescribed mediation and ove the counter medication. I guess if it was one of your family members you would not be posting this comment. The lady still had slurred speach and could barely get into the taxi because she was still under the influence.
While working at a liquor store during Grad School, I saw numerous "regular customers" like her. Always coming in under the influence of something. It's quite sad.
Dayquil for daytime, Nyquil for Night time and bedtime learn the difference.
It's also hard to overlook the fact that she sure didn't look like she had a cold.
Sounds pretty creative.. A regular who had her story ready just in case. I respect those who plan ahead.
I agree with you 100%. How long has she had this vehicle? And all of a sudden she wanted her vehicle to look "Nice". How about we hear an explanation to this!!
Actually, it isn't very creative at all, as both of these "excuses" have been attempted before, and will again. She was wasted, one way or the other. Period.
I hope they deliver the order when she gets home!
nyquil has more alcohol than a beer......should read the label
The Secretary of Transportation should make driving near a liquor store a federal offense.
Why would anyone take Nyquil then go out driving? In fact the Nyquil bottle even warns against doing that very thing. There is a very good reason why the same company also makes DAYquil!
Because a shot of Nyquil will not impair most healthy people.
The company only puts the warnings on for lawsuit purposes.
I tend to believe the Armour All excuse more.
Dear Viewer -Ready,
T totally agree with you and I have made comments. This lady needs to be investigated furter. As I said in my post this was an excuse with the Armour All and guess what where I live there is Not A Detailer Shop, Drive Thru Car Cleaning Service that puts Armor All on your dashboards, foot pedals any longer due to this lady is a lier. I would like to see this lady admit that she was in the wrong.
And lets not forget she was a regular custome at this location.
I've got one that ranks right up there with this lady. I was picking up the liquor order for the restaurant one day at the liquor store. As I was leaving so was this fella on a moped. Since I was in my boss' truck and I'm used to driving a car I let him get going so I didn't have to worry about him. So he's leaving the parking lot and a Cadillac is coming in. Well he's in the wrong lane and he RUNS OVER THE CADILLAC! Yes, the moped ran over the car. The front wheel of the moped came up over the driver-side headlight and onto the hood before the man and his moped both toppled over. I have to say of all the interesting things I've seen related to alcohol, this one takes the cake.
"My foot slipped off the brake..." Hey, my foot has slipped off my brake before. It has even, on various occasions, come down between the gas and the brake. Sometimes my ankle has cramped up and I've had to bring my left foot up in order to brake. It NEVER took me that much time to compensate for human error.
I do believe her story because she couldn't even pronounce "Armor All" properly... but I have no faith in her her capabilities as a driver. A lot of damage occurred over a reasonably short distance, which means a car entering a parking lot, or rolling to a stop at a space in front of the window, should not have destroyed the building with such force. Or as one would be apt to shout, "Slow down, lady! It's not a race!"
To blame a cold medication and an Armor All-ed brake petal? Okay, fine. Apparently the Armor All on the GAS PEDAL didn't inhibit her any?
I can believe her.
I will tell you why.
On the flight line where I worked as an aircraft mechanic, some idiot (probably meaning well) Armour alled the brake pedal and the accelerator on a line vehicle..
One of the flight line chiefs almost crashed into a multi-thousand dollar aircraft.
But her car was in the wrong gear to go the right way. Doesn't that tell you something about her condition ??? I know the store, it's a half mile away, she lives even closer. She had to be wasted to pull this off.
I will give you another one.
NEVER, Armour All a motorcycle. ESPECIALLY THE SEAT.
It will say goodbye to your ass in a New York Minute.
hahahaha good comment.
Thank God it was in CT. and not FL for once!
We do get our share down here.
I was waiting for this (when it was mentioned in the morning news) to end up on World' Dumbest... And now that it's online, it's only time. Our state has some quirks, including the drunk jailed bride, but we're still no Florida. lol.
It doesn't take Columbo to figure out she was wasted and sloshed. If you're sick, you don't need any extra alcohol. You're just helping the prudes' arguments against Sunday Liquor sales.
Can anyone smell that? smells like BS to me. :D!
.
Kind of hard to go through the wall of a commercial building because your foot slipped off the barake
I know I shouldn't be, but I'm laughing right now. Hysterically.
My foot slipped off of the brake and landed directly on the GAS pedal so I gunned that b*tch!
ROFL!!!!!
I guess her foot didn't slip off of the gas pedal. I think she's a liar.
I'm just going to call BULLSH*T on that one lady!
I'll have what she's having.
hey lady try some @!$%#ing codeine or meths next time and have a good @!$%#ing trip you bitch!!!!
Why the hell didn't she just take the Nyquil and lie down like a normal person would. You don't take Nyquil and go to the liquor store. Besides in the article it says she's a regular so I assume she wanted some alcohol to take along with the medicine. Wrong move!
its the brake PEDAL ,not the brake pads that got armor all on them,what a dumbass
lol maybe she thought it was a "BREW THRU" drive thru liquor &beer store like they got in NC those are real convient ,you drive your ride into the store as it got a drivethru
That is especially convenient for those too drunk to get out of their car and walk into the store. It gives them more time to run over pedestrians and hit other vehicles, as well as storefronts. Simply brilliant idea!
Uh, even if her foot slipped off the brake onto the gas, the car was in the wrong gear to go the right way. Her excuses are weak - her actions stupid, irresponsible, and obviously dangerous. Whether NyQuil or booze she was intoxicated and unfit to drive. She deserves some jail time. BTW - I live about a half mile from the store, she lives about a quarter mile away and could walk to it in 5 minutes at most. But when you're that wasted it's so much easier to sit down and drive than to walk, I mean stumble. Perhaps liquor stores shouldn't be able to serve drunks - just like bars can't !
No. They still can't. I believe it's part of the blue laws. But there are still some packies that bend the rules, i.e. serving drunks and underage buyers. There's even a handful that sell from the back door on sundays or after 9.
....Dang, and she's not even 80+ yet!!! There's been at least 3 accidents, around my area, in the last month, involving 84+ yr old women