CT woman allegedly fled into woods after crash; tracked by police dog

A Norwich woman who allegedly fled into the woods following a crash in Lisbon Sunday was not able to evade being found for long: Connecticut State Police dog Zedo was on the job and found her fast, police said.

The incident unfolded just before 6 p.m. Sunday, May 28 when troopers assigned to Troop E in Montville responded to the area of 114 River Road in Lisbon, after receiving a report of a two-car motor vehicle crash, state police said.

Witnesses told the troopers that one of the involved drivers had fled into the nearby wood line prior to troopers arriving at the scene, state police said. Then, the dog track was “immediately initiated” and police dog Zedo “quickly located the evading operator hiding in the woods, where she was taken into custody,” state police said.

Further, the accused operator, identified as Lauren Donohue, 43, of Norwich, allegedly “made verbal threats to kill the investigating troopers and their families,” state police said.

State police said the troopers also saw that Donohue appeared “unsteady on her feet and that the odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from her person, indicating possible impairment.”

Donohue was taken to Troop E, where she remained “uncooperative during arrest processing” and due to her “uncooperative and aggressive conduct,” the troopers were not able to administer Standardized Field Sobriety Tests or other drug/alcohol tests, police said.

Donohue is charged with evading responsibility, illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence, failure to drive right, two counts of interfering with an officer/resisting and four counts of second-degree threatening, police said.

She was being held in lieu of $10,000 bail and is scheduled for arraignment Tuesday at Norwich Superior Court.