A Norwalk woman was charged with DUI and risk of injury to a minor after striking a light post on Tokeneke Road. Officers were dispatched to the intersection of Tokeneke Road and Old Farms Road on July 22 on reports of a toppled light post and a driver attempting to leave the scene at about 2:30 a.m.

When police reached the scene the driver, Zaida Gomez-Mendez, 33, was standing next to the car and speaking to a child in the back seat. When asked what happened Gomez-Mendez allegedly said “nothing” and when asked if she had hit the pole she again replied, “nothing.”

Witnesses said Gomez-Mendez had been passed out at the wheel and needed to be woken up in the intersection. When she did wake up, she immediately drove off the roadway and into the pole. Officers at the scene noticed the smell of alcohol on her breath and she was asked to submit to field sobriety tests.

She was unable to perform them to standard and was placed under arrest for DUI and risk of injury to a minor. A second officer took the child to police headquarters as well. Gomez-Mendez refused to submit to breathalyzer tests but allegedly admitted to drinking at a friend’s house earlier that evening, telling officers she had made a “big mistake.” She was released on $250 bond and is due in court on Aug. 1.