BEATRICE – Local police have arrested a 21-year-old woman for leaving the scene of an accident and driving under the influence of alcohol.

Saturday night at about 10:46, police were sent to the area of 15th and Garfield for a hit-and-run crash.  A vehicle was observed leaving the area west on Garfield Street, with severe front-end damage.

An officer saw a silver sedan on Garfield with extreme front damage, no headlights and a leaking radiator.  The officer stopped the driver.  Police said the driver had heavily slurred speech and a strong odor of alcohol was detected.

Police found that the driver, Helen Grupe, of Beatrice had collided with a pickup parked along the east curb in the nine-hundred block of North 15th Street.  The force of the collision pushed the truck over the curb, about ten feet from where it was parked.

The driver initially told police the damage on her vehicle was old, but later said she had crashed into a vehicle and was trying to make it home.

Grupe was arrested by police for driving under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of a crash and failure to maintain lane.