An Episcopal bishop who was the driver in a hit-and-run crash that killed a bicyclist in Baltimore was charged four years ago with drunken driving and marijuana possession, court documents show.

Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook, who is the No. 2 leader for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, was driving a car that hit Tom Palermo, 41, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, diocese spokeswoman Sharon Tillman said.

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Flowers mark the site where a bicyclist was hit Saturday in Baltimore. An Episcopal bishop returned “to take responsibility for her actions,” one of her peers says. The Associated Press

Palermo died from head injuries, said Bruce Goldfarb, spokesman for the Maryland medical examiner’s office.

Court records show that in 2010, Cook was charged with driving under the influence and marijuana possession in Caroline County on the Eastern Shore. She pleaded guilty to drunken driving and the prosecution of the other charges was dropped. A judge sentenced her to a fine and probation before judgment on the DUI charge, meaning her record could be cleared if she stayed out of trouble.

A sheriff’s deputy stopped Cook on Sept. 10, 2010. The officer wrote in a report that Cook was driving on the shoulder with a shredded front tire. The deputy noted that a strong alcohol odor emanated from the vehicle and that Cook had vomit down the front of her shirt.

The officer wrote that Cook was so intoxicated that she couldn’t finish a field sobriety test. According to the report, Cook registered .27 percent blood alcohol content. The legal limit in Maryland is .08 percent.

The officer found two small bags of marijuana in the car.

Tillman said Cook disclosed the earlier charges when she was vetted and elected as the diocese’s first female bishop.

In an email Sunday, Bishop Eugene Sutton told priests in the diocese that Cook left the scene of Saturday’s accident, but returned about 20 minutes later “to take responsibility for her actions.”

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