SKOWHEGAN — A Skowhegan woman on probation for three drunken driving convictions is back behind bars for allegedly being drunk while pushing her toddler in a stroller through traffic this week.

Hiedi Anne McDonald, 39, of Butler Street, was seen Wednesday weaving in and out of the traffic lane on Chandler Street with the baby carriage, and then later on North Avenue, according to police.

She registered a .23 on an Intoxilyzer test at the police station — nearly three times the legal limit — and was arrested on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child and on a probation violation.

“The female was unable to stand up steady,” Officer Jason Gayne wrote in a court affidavit for McDonald’s arrest. “The child appeared to be scared.”

McDonald’s child, a boy, is not yet 2 years old, according to Police Chief Ted Blais.

Blais said police received a report shortly before 6 p.m. Wednesday that a woman was “all over the place with a stroller, she’s out in the road.”

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Gayne and Officer Ryan Dinsmore found McDonald “all dirty and cut up” from falling down drunk on her walk with the toddler, Blais said.

Chandler Street is a residential connector between U.S. Route 201 and busy North Avenue, which is Route 150. Both Route 201 and 150 are major arteries into town. Gayne said the woman picked the child up and nearly dropped him and “almost fell over on top of him.”

McDonald pleaded not guilty to the charges during her initial appearance in court Friday. Blais said McDonald called her grandmother to take the child. She is to have no contact with the child unless permitted by the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to the website of Hospice Volunteers of Somerset County, McDonald is an administrative assistant at the agency and has three children.

McDonald is on probation for felony operating under the influence in Skowhegan in May 2013. She pleaded guilty to the charge in November and was sentenced to three years in the Department of Corrections, with all but 30 days suspended and two years probation.

The charge was elevated to a felony because of two previous operating under the influence convictions in 2009 in Belfast District Court and Rockland District Court, according to court records. Her driver’s license was suspended for six years.

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Bail is set on McDonald at $800 cash. She remained held Friday afternoon at the Somerset County Jail in East Madison, unable to make bail.

She has a status conference scheduled in court July 23, with a tentative trial date set for Aug. 4.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @Doug_Harlow


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