Officers found 21-year-old Erica Cooper passed out, slumped over the steering wheel of a car blocking the right lane of the Interstate 40 east ramp to Alcoa Highway in Knoxville on Nov. 5, with a two-year-old in the back seat.
Court documents say she became combative after they woke her and asked her to get out, then spit on and kicked two officers while they moved her into a cruiser, according to a Nov. 11 report by Josh Jarnagin of WVLT. She is charged with driving under the influence, attempted child endangerment, disorderly conduct and two counts of assault on a first responder.
The records say Cooper gave rambling, incoherent answers and spoke with slurred speech that officers described as consistent with alcohol use. They placed her in handcuffs.
Officers tried to remove the child because the car was blocking the road. Court records say she became combative and disorderly while they did. AMR responded and sedated her, and she was taken to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for evaluation. Officers reported five open containers of alcohol and an empty tequila bottle in the car.
Cooper is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 3.
This ramp case is separate from an October arrest that WVLT reported. Police said they found 33-year-old Alicia Wooden passed out in the driver's seat with her six-month-old screaming in the back seat. Court records put that stop around 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 17 in the Kroger parking lot on Kingston Pike.
Officers reported crushed pills and two baggies believed to be methamphetamines, weighing 11 grams in all. Wooden was arrested on charges that included DUI, child endangerment and possession-related offenses.
