Source: Huffington Post
The events leading up to a high-speed chase occurred around 4 a.m. on Oct. 11. An officer was patrolling Route 422 in Bainbridge when he clocked 28-year-old Erin Holdsworth of Hiram, Ohio, driving her 2002 Mazda 626 at nearly twice the 65 mph speed limit. The officer attempted to make a traffic stop but Holdsworth refused to comply, according to Bainbridge Police Chief Jon Bokovitz.
“There was a pursuit of about seven miles,” Bokovitz told The Huffington Post. “An officer from the [Geauga County] Sheriff’s Office was in the area, and he put down stop sticks.”
Both of the left tires on Holdsworth’s vehicle were punctured by metal barbs on the tire-deflation device, forcing her to pull her disabled vehicle over to the side of the road. It was at that point that the routine stop took a bizarre turn.
“Well, she got out of her car on her own and she had on just a white thong and a fishnet top that was completely see-through,” Bokovitz said. He added, “She was obviously under the influence.”
“She was not very forthcoming on where she was coming from, what she was doing or why she was dressed the way she was,” Bokovitz said.
Holdsworth allegedly refused to submit to a blood alcohol test, and Bokovitz said she appeared to be too inebriated for officers to conduct a field sobriety test with her. “She was so unsure on her feet that she probably would have fell and hurt herself,” the chief said.
Despite refusing the test, Holdsworth was compliant with the arresting officer. It was not until they got her in the back of the patrol car that the stoic female allegedly became agitated, according to police.
Police footage of the arrest shows what appears to be an enraged and near-naked Holdsworth attempting to break out windows in the police cruiser. Bokovitz said Holdsworth “kicked and beat her head on the glass and everything.”
Holdsworth was eventually brought under control and charged in Chardon Municipal Court with one count each of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, refusing a blood alcohol content test, fleeing and eluding, criminal damaging, driving under a suspended license, speeding and reckless operation.
Authorities did not file any charges in regard to Bokovitz’s revealing clothing — or the apparent lack thereof.
“In the state of Ohio [public nudity] has to be a willful wanton act, which in this case she wasn’t really walking around or displaying herself to the public,” Bokovitz said.
Holdsworth pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. She has since been freed from the Geauga County Safety Center. Holdsworth is due back in court on November 2. Attempts to reach Holdsworth were unsuccessful and it is unclear whether she has an attorney.
“It is a unique case,” Bokovitz said. “We don’t know where she was in the state of dress she was in. It is kind of weird but you see a lot of stuff out here doing this job.”
Leave a Comment