By Jim Clark

Last week, Somerville Police dispatch received a call that a car was stopped in the middle of the street near the intersection of Temple and Ten Hills Road and had been idling for a few minutes. Police officers were subsequently dispatched to the area to investigate the matter.

While en route, the same reporting party called Somerville Police dispatch again and stated that the driver was a female and appeared uneasy on her feet.

Upon arrival, the officers spoke to the suspect, later identified as Alexis Orchard, of Medford. The officers reported that they observed Orchard sitting in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, with the car running as they approached her.

When the officers arrived, the vehicle was stopped in the middle of the street, still running with the hazard lights on, partially blocking both the road and a driveway. The vehicle was also facing the wrong way up a one-way street, Temple Road.

Upon further inspection of the vehicle, the officers noticed that the front-right and rear-right tires were both flat and the right side of the car was slanted downward, resting on the rims.

Orchard reportedly offered to exit the vehicle and “prove it” that she was not intoxicated. When Orchard exited the vehicle on her own accord, she immediately fell backwards, catching herself on the mid-section of her car.

Orchard then reportedly began behaving tumultuously by loudly slurring her words. It was during that behavior that the officers smelled the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her person. Once Orchard quieted down, the officers noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and glassy.

Orchard was then asked where she was coming from and she named a cocktail bar at Assembly Row and that she was a bartender there. As she answered questions, she was continuously stumbling over herself and was having trouble standing up straight, according to reports.

When asked if she had consumed any alcoholic beverages while she was at the bar, cocktail bar reportedly told police, “Yes, two.”

Orchard was then informed by the officers that due to the fact that they could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her breath, her glassy and bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and difficulty remaining upright, that they were going to put her through a standardized field sobriety Test, to which she readily agreed.

According to police, Orchard did not perform well during the sobriety tests. Based on the facts that she was sitting in the driver’s seat, with the car running, her continuous slurred speech, lack of balance, the odor of alcoholic beverage coming from her, the glassy and bloodshot eyes that she possessed, and the failed tests given to her, the officers decided to place her under arrest on a charge of operation of a motor vehicle under the influence of liquor, whereupon she was transported to Somerville Police Headquarters for booking.