Woman In Arlington Crash Charged With Drunken Driving

ARLINGTON, MA – A North Reading woman was charged with drunken driving Wednesday evening after she crashed into a house in Arlington. Police were called to Cornell Street around 5:05 p.m. and found 22-year-old Victoria Steele sitting on the front steps of a home. She was upset and told officers she had a panic attack and crashed into the house, according to the police report.

A witness told police she saw Steele's car speed around the turn from Rawson Road onto Cornell Street and crash into the front of a home when it could not complete the turn, the police report stated. The witness said Steele got out of the car and she helped Steele to her front steps to sit, according to the report.

Steele allegedly begged the witness not to call the police.

Investigators believe Steele's car jumped the curb, drove through a black wrought iron fence and struck the cement staircase of the home before coming to a stop on top of a wooden picket fence between two homes. Steele may have lost control while trying to make the 90-degree turn at a high rate of speed, police said.

Steele was questioned about another car that the witness said was speeding in the area right before the crash. She said she and her boyfriend, Marcus, got into an argument and she was trying to follow him. Steele's breath allegedly smelled like alcohol, but when asked if she had been drinking, Steele told the officer she was two weeks sober, according to the report.

Gradually, Steele allegedly admitted to drinking two "nips" of vodka at 2 p.m. that afternoon. She appeared unsteady on her feet, her speech was slurred and her eyes were bloodshot and glassy, police said.

Steele agreed to undergo a series of field sobriety tests and was arrested based on the results. Police found multiple nips of root beer vodka in Steele's car and her blood alcohol content was 0.23, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08, according to the report.

She was charged with operating under the influence of liquor and negligent operation of a motor vehicle.

Image via Arlington Police Department