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Transparency Bodycam published footage of the crash on July 22, involving a white 2017 Mercedes GLE that had struck a pole on Mitchell Place near Oakes Road in Little Silver.
The driver was identified by Little Silver police as 42-year-old Melissa Diller, of Middletown, according to records published by The Mounmouth Journal.
The footage from Officer Andrew White's body-worn camera shows him finding the SUV at the scene with airbag deployment. Diller, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found. The officer eventually finds Diller in front of a home on Rumson Road, where she said she'd been going through a divorce and denied drinking any alcohol.
Diller is seen in the footage performing field sobriety tests, which she failed, and was subsequently arrested. Further testing later found Diller's BAC was 0.16%, Transparency Bodycam says citing police papers, which is twice the legal limit.
Diller was charged with careless driving, failure to report an accident, leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage, and operating under the influence.
Records show that Diller has a history of motor vehicle offenses dating back to the 2000s. In 2008, she was ticketed for careless driving. In 2010, she was ticketed for obstructing the passage of other vehicles. In 2012, she was ticketed for unsafe operation of a vehicle, careless driving, and failure to observe a traffic control device (camera). In 2003, she was issued a summons for failure to possess a valid driver's license.
Click here to watch the full video from Transparency Bodycam.
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