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After striking Pinellas sheriff's crusier, deputies say impaired driver didn't stop

 
Kimberly Kuhlow, 44, of New Port Richey, was arrested Friday after the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said she struck a parked sheriff's cruiser while impaired. [Courtesy of Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]
Kimberly Kuhlow, 44, of New Port Richey, was arrested Friday after the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said she struck a parked sheriff's cruiser while impaired. [Courtesy of Pinellas County Sheriff's Office]
Published Feb. 5, 2017

CLEARWATER — A 44-year-old New Port Richey woman was arrested early Friday after the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said she drunkenly drove into a sheriff's cruiser and kept on going.

Kimberly Kuhlow, of 7107 Magnolia Drive, was arrested on charges of driving under the influence, DUI involving property damage, leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage and refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test.

The incident took place about 12:30 a.m. on the U.S. 19 N frontage road south of 150th Avenue N. Deputy Tiffany Ashcom, 31, drove up to a disabled vehicle in the north curb lane of the frontage road, activated her emergency lights and parked behind the stopped vehicle.

Ashcom was sitting in her vehicle, the agency said, when a 2015 Hyundai Elantra headed north on the frontage road struck the front driver's side of the sheriff's cruiser. The Hyundai kept driving north, according to the Sheriff's Office.

A tow truck driver who had just arrived witnessed the crash and followed the Hyundai, the Sheriff's Office said. Deputies soon pulled over the vehicle and arrested Kuhlow. Deputies said they detected signs of impairment.

Ashcom was not injured in the crash. Kuhlow was being held in the county jail late Friday in lieu of $1,755 bail.