CHRISTINE M. BUSSOLARE
WESTFIELD – A city woman apparently was having a bad day, even before police spotted her driving drunk in the wrong direction on a one-way street adjacent to the police station.
Police had been called to a Pochassic Street address Monday evening by a woman who expressed concern for an eight-year-old girl who was under the care of an intoxicated woman. The caller told police that she knew a former in-law was intoxicated because of the harassing text messages and phone calls she had received from the woman and said that she was concerned for the chid in her care.
The responding officer found that the woman in question was indeed drunk and the child was transferred to the care of another family member.
Less than an hour later, a caller reported that the same woman – who was driving while intoxicated – came to his residence and yelled at him.
The woman was not in the area when officers responded to the second call but a short time later Officer Scott Schuster and his partner, Officer Bradley White, reported they had spotted the woman, later identified as Christine M. Bussolari, 39, of 71 Pochassic St., operating her car “traveling in the wrong direction (eastbound) on School Street.”
Schuster reports that the car attempted to park on School Street “but half the vehicle was in a parking space and the other half was in the roadway, facing in the wrong direction”.
He reports Bussolari stumbled out of her car and shouted “I’m going to crush you all.” When he asked her to explain, the woman told the officers she was “going to kill all of you.”
Schuster reports the belligerent woman exhibited the classic symptoms of alcohol intoxication and reports that she said “I drank an entire pint of whiskey” when he asked her how many alcoholic beverages she had consumed.
Bussolari was arrested for operating under the influence of liquor, negligent operation of a motor vehicle, disorderly conduct and a restricted way violation.
Schuster reports that a breath alcohol test was administered, twice. The average was .197 per cent blood alcohol content.
Massachusetts law defines .08 per cent blood alcohol content as the upper limit for legal adult operation of a motor vehicle.
Bussolari was arraigned in Westfield District Court on Tuesday and was released on her personal recognizance pending a May 2 hearing.
