Ex-MATA employee charged with DUI in Mississippi

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A now-former Memphis Area Transit Authority was charged with DUI and traffic violations after she was pulled over in a MATA vehicle in Hernando, Mississippi.

Edwina Hankins is charged with driving under the influence (first offense), failure to yield to blue light/siren, reckless driving and driving on the wrong side of the road after a traffic stop last month.

A Hernando officer states in a report that at 1 a.m. Aug. 4, he saw a white Chevy Traverse turn at a set of railroad tracks and stop in the grass on the side of Mount Pleasant Road.

Thinking there may have been an accident, he turned his car around and then walked toward the vehicle, which began to pull away.

The officer says he knocked on the window as the Chevy pulled away and struck a tree. He ran back to his patrol car and the Chevy continued driving, then pulled into a parking lot.

Hankins was the only occupant in the Chevy. She told the officer she had made a wrong turn. The officer noted in the report that Hankins smelled of alcohol, her eyes were bloodshot and her speech was slurred.

Hankins then activated the MATA lights on the vehicle, described as flashing orange and green lights. The officer asked her to turn them off.

MATA said Wednesday that Hankins is no longer an employee. It’s unclear what her role at the transit agency was.

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