28-year-old Arpita Sarkar was on the side of Highway 70 next to her damaged Toyota Camry that was involved in a car accident that the police responded to on July 10th. Nashville Fire Department told police that Arpita was intoxicated and she was on her phone and crying. Police described her as smelling strongly of alcohol and belligerent during the interview. She told police she had two glasses of champagne roughly three hours before the crash and then went to Domino’s. When they asked her about the accident, she said she did not know how it occurred but could barely stand.
The other vehicle involved in the crash was driven by Brenda Linares, who had an injury to her left arm, and the passenger of her vehicle, Dylan Hooker, had a cut on the back of his head. Dylan said that after the accident, he exited the vehicle to take pictures of the damage, and Arpita began yelling at him and then smacked his iPhone 14 out of his hand, causing it to hit the ground and shatter.
Witness Jacob Church followed behind Arpita before the accident and showed dash cam footage of Arpita moving into oncoming traffic and colliding with Brenda’s vehicle. Arpita was transferred to St. Thomas West Hospital for her leg injuries and was administered a modified sobriety test. Police reported that she could not comprehend the test and was yelling due to her high level of intoxication. She was issued a citation for DUI because she needed to be at the hospital for over 3 hours. She was booked for the charge on August 7th.