CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A woman charged with seriously injuring a Chesapeake Police officer faced a judge Monday morning. Police arrested 30-year-old Yacarely Diaz-Castro after they said she hit an officer conducting a traffic stop.
Diaz-Castro appeared behind a video screen when she requested a public defender to represent her. She wiped away tears during the hearing and raised concerns about being away from her daughter.
According to newly filed court paperwork, the officer has a skull fracture and a C6 vertebrae fracture after getting hit by a car. A police spokesperson said it happened Saturday as an officer stopped a car on South Military Highway near Bainbridge Boulevard.
Court documents say the officer’s vehicle had its emergency lights on when investigators say Yacarely Diaz-Castro crashed her car into the police cruiser around 2:30 am. The crash sent the police car into the vehicle the officer had stopped.
The impact of the crash sent the officer over the guardrail, according to court records. Medics took him to the hospital. Police said Diaz-Castro and the passenger in her car also arrived at the hospital with minor injuries. Detectives said Diaz-Castro appeared to have hit her head on the car windshield.
The paperwork said officers noticed a strong smell of alcohol coming from Diaz-Castro. Inside her car, they found several empty beer cans and conducted two sobriety tests before she told police she had been drinking at a bar nearly an hour before the crash.
She is charged with DUI maiming, driving without a license, and failing to move over for a stationary vehicle with warning lights.
According to the bail checklist, Diaz-Castro told investigators she’s from Nicaragua and has lived in the U.S. for roughly seven months. Documents said DMV records show she's not licensed.
Diaz-Castro is expected to appear in court Wednesday for a bond hearing.