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OWI arrest made with children in car

New London police arrested a woman outside a bar after patrons there would not allow her to drive away with children in her vehicle.

Theresa M. Heck, 45, Conover, was charged with a seventh offense of operating while intoxicated and for drunken driving with children in the vehicle.

Shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, New London police were dispatched to John’s Bar on South Pearl Street in response to a report that an intoxicated woman was trying to drive away with two children in her vehicle.

When officer Chris Dearth and Sgt. Todd Sarazin responded, they found two children in a white mini-van parked outside the bar.

According to the criminal complaint, Sarazin saw a woman standing in a nearby parking lot, yelling into her cellphone.

The woman, identified as Heck, reportedly told Sarazin she had stopped at the bar and left her children in the vehicle for about 15 minutes. She said she had just one shot, but it “set her off” because it had been so long since she last consumed alcohol, the complaint says.

When asked how many times she had been arrested for drunken driving in the past, Heck reportedly replied, “Too many times to count.”

Heck also reportedly told Sarazin he could not arrest her for OWI because she had not been driving the vehicle when he arrived.

Tests indicate Heck had a 0.169 blood-alcohol level at the time of her arrest. She was previously convicted of drunken driving offenses in April 2009, November 2006, November 2002, February 2001, March 2000 and November 1994.

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