NewsLocal News

Actions

Utah woman arrested after leaving mom at grocery store, crashing her car into school crossing sign

Posted at 8:30 AM, Nov 23, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-23 21:45:37-05

ROOSEVELT, Utah — A woman was arrested after police say she left her mother at a grocery store, took her car without permission, and crashed it into a school crossing sign the day before Thanksgiving.

According to a statement of probable cause, police were dispatched to hit and run crash just before 4 p.m. Wednesday at 8915 North and 2000 West in Neola, a small town in Duchesne County.

Witnesses told police a vehicle left the road and struck a school crossing sign, and when the witness approached the driver to see if she was OK the woman drove away.

Around this same time, dispatchers received a call to make a welfare check after a woman reported her daughter had taken her car without permission and left her at a grocery store in Roosevelt, which is near Neola.

Police caught up with Cynthia Freestone, 54, at 1350 West and 9000 North and found she was the person sought in connection with both calls.

Freestone told police she did not know where her mother was and claimed a dog inside the vehicle distracted her, causing her to crash into the sign. She told police she did not have a phone with her and planned to report the accident later.

The woman’s mother told police Freestone did not have permission to take the vehicle.

Freestone was booked into jail on one felony count of unlawful control of a vehicle, one misdemeanor count of leaving the scene of an accident and one infraction for unsafe lane travel.