Deputies say woman was DUI when she fled from police in semi and then crashed

QUIET DELL, W.Va. (WBOY) — The truck driver who allegedly fled from law enforcement in Harrison County and then crashed in Lewis County was intoxicated, court documents say.

On Aug. 28, officers were told to look out for a tractor-trailer which had struck a vehicle and “fled the scene” onto Interstate 79 southbound, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies learned that the driver, Nele Thuening, 52, had driven to the 7-Eleven location in Quiet Dell and “gotten into an altercation with a customer,” and a second BOLO (be on the lookout) was sent out for that incident. The caller “stated that the female driving the tractor-trailer appeared to be intoxicated,” deputies said. Video obtained by 12 News showed an officer with the Clarksburg Police Department made contact with Thuening at the 7-Eleven, but she sped away from him.

A short time later, deputies saw and attempted to pull over the truck, which deputies said was “swerving all over the roadway and leaving the roadway several times.” At one point, Thuening “nearly read-end[ed] a passenger vehicle,” according to the complaint.

The pursuit then moved into Lewis County, and deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Department assisted by deploying “stop stick and disabl[ing] several tires” from Thuening’s vehicle, which resulted in Thuening losing “control and had a rollover-type collision ,” deputies said.

Deputies then approached the driver’s cab of the tractor-trailer “which was on its side,” and found Thuening “standing inside the cab and making obscene gestures toward deputies,” before she “kicked out a window” and “climbed out of the vehicle,” according to the complaint.

A “struggle ensued” for deputies to detain Thuening, during which time she “attempted to kick several deputies,” the complaint said. Deputies also noted in their account that Thuening had “slurred speech.” She was transported to UHC “for medical clearance,” deputies said.

While at UHC, deputies noted Thuening had “difficulty balancing and [they] could detect the odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from her”; there were also “numerous opened alcoholic beverages inside the cab of the tractor-trailer,” according to the complaint.

Thuening was charged with fleeing while DUI. She is being held in North Central Regional Jail on $25,000 bond.

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