Woman found dead

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, February 17, 2009

NATCHEZ — A Natchez woman who received a DUI after wrecking her car Sunday night has died.

Natchez police officers responded to a wreck in which a 2002 Chrysler PT Cruiser hit a pole at 54 Seargent S. Prentiss Drive at 11 p.m.

The vehicle struck the pole and wound up in the median, Police Chief Mike Mullins said.

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The driver, Nola Regina Pruitt, 50, 617 Franklin St., told the officers she was uninjured, he said.

“The ambulance got there and she refused medical treatment,” Mullins said.

Pruitt also told officers that she had been at drinking at a local bar, and when she failed the field sobriety test, she was taken to the police department.

She was then administered a blood alcohol test. Pruitt’s blood alcohol level was .13.

The legal intoxication limit is .08.

She was arrested on charges of driving under the influence and was bonded out on $771 by a family member using a bail bondsmen at 12:45 Monday morning.

“That was the last contact we had with her,” Mullins said.

Adams County Coroner James Lee said Pruitt was later found at home at approximately 3 a.m., unresponsive, by family members.

He said she was brought to Natchez Regional Medical Center, where she died.

“Right now, I’m waiting on an autopsy report,” Lee said. “I have no idea, at this point, what may have happened.”

Lee said he anticipates receiving the autopsy report today.