Woman trying to addle cop drives into home

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RED HOOK, N.Y., Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A New York state woman whose car crashed through the front door of a house, nearly hitting a woman watching TV, was trying to distract police, police said.

Lynn Sarnowski, 47, of Elizaville, N.Y., was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving and reckless endangerment after she drove past a Red Hook, N.Y., police officer on a winding country road at nearly 100 mph, lost control and smashed through the door of the house, narrowly missing homeowner June Lawson, Red Hook town police said.

Sarnowski started driving at the high speed to distract the town officer who had pulled over a friend of hers for possible drunken driving, police said.

Red Hook is in the Hudson Valley about 100 miles north of New York City.

Sarnowski, who had to be extricated from her car, was taken to a Poughkeepsie, N.Y., hospital, where she was charged and issued a misdemeanor drunken-driving ticket to appear in Red Hook Town Court, police said.

She was later arrested and charged with two counts of reckless endangerment, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported.

At the Red Hook home, Jason Lawson, who was on the second floor when the accident occurred, was injured when he fell down the stairs, not realizing they had been taken out by the car running into the house, the Kingston Daily Freeman reported.

Both Lawsons declined medical attention.

The operator of the vehicle originally stopped by police, Gary A. Dodge, 57, of Elizaville, was charged with two counts of felony drunken driving. He was arraigned in town court and released on his own recognizance.