Woman arrested for alleged DUI twice in past three days

Police say Deette S. Rude posted bail and was released from the Clark County Jail on Thursday, hours after being arrested on suspicion of driving while impaired by drugs and causing a car crash — for the second time in three days.

Rude is alleged to have been using eight drugs that impaired her ability to drive, said Sgt. Scott Schanaker with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. One woman was hospitalized overnight after the first of two crashes, both on Northeast 199th Street.

“It’s sad, really,” Schanaker said Friday. “The reality of it. Someone with so many problems.”

Schanaker said Rude caused a collision while impaired by drugs about 4 p.m. Wednesday, at Northeast 199th Street and 72nd Avenue. In this second crash, the other driver was not reported injured.

Rude, 40, a Battle Ground resident, was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center with minor injuries, Schanaker said.

The following day, deputies arrested her at the hospital on suspicion of DUI drugs and 11 counts of possessing a legend drug without a prescription, Schanaker said.

Based on drugs found in her possession and ones she allegedly told police she had been using, Rude is alleged to have used these drugs that, alone or in combination, could impair her ability to drive:

• Oxycodone, a strong narcotic painkiller classified as an opiate analgesic that’s prescribed for moderate to severe pain. It is addictive and so strong that it’s prescribed only for patients who have built up a tolerance to such drugs. In the case of others, and people who crush the time-release granules and swallow them, it can cause death, according to the National Institutes of Health.

• Promethazine, used for allergies and also considered potentially dangerous.

• Cyclobenzaprine hydrochloride, a muscle relaxant and pain reliever prescribed for muscle injuries.

• Alprazolam, used to treat anxiety disorders, panic attacks and depression.

• Prozac, an antidepressant.

• Valium, used to relieve anxiety, muscle spasms and seizures.

• Acetaminophen, aka Tylenol, an over-the-counter analgesic for mild to moderate head and muscle aches.

• Antihistamines for treatment of allergy symptoms.

The Columbian was unable to reach Rude for comment.

Rude also is alleged to have violated a court order, from a previous DUI arrest, to have an alcohol interlock device in her car while driving. Those devices are meant to stop a car’s engine from starting if the driver’s breath contains alcohol.

Crash injured driver

In Rude’s first crash this week, Monday evening, Schanaker said Rude was driving impaired on drugs when she collided with a car in the 6700 block of Northeast 199th Street. The other driver, a 64-year-old Battle Ground woman, was treated at a hospital for injuries and released Tuesday.

After that crash, officers said they found many drugs in Rude’s possession. She agreed to go to a hospital and give a blood sample, to be analyzed for drugs, and was released, Schanaker said.

“This is Rude’s second arrest for DUI drugs in three days and her third DUI drugs since May of this year,” Schanaker said in a bulletin. “The latest DUI arrest would be Rude’s fifth DUI arrest in the past two years.”

DUI is normally classified as a misdemeanor crime.

But this time, with the fifth alleged DUI, deputy prosecutors will have the option of charging the alleged DUI as a felony under state law, Schanaker said.

Shanaker said several local police officers and troopers, including two sheriff’s deputies, have received special training as drug recognition experts, qualified to make arrests when drivers are impaired by drugs besides alcohol; those deputies were involved in this case.

Many drugs can cause drowsiness and other impairments, as their label warnings state.

Drivers who use drugs, whether by prescription or sold over the counter, are responsible for being informed about their possible effects on the ability to drive, Schanaker said.

A first DUI conviction can cost more than $8,000 in fines, fees and attorney fees.

John Branton: 360-735-4513 or john.branton@columbian.com.