RENSSELAER — An overwhelming need to check off an item on her bucket list landed a Plainfield, Illinois, woman in jail on May 12.
According to the Rensselaer Police Department, Holly Whalen, 48, of Plainfield, was charged with institutional criminal mischief, a Level 6 felony, and operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, a Class A misdemeanor, after she was found driving her car in circles in a farm field in Rensselaer.
The incident occurred on State Road 114 near the Jasper County Airport.
An officer stopped Whalen and detected an odor of alcohol. Whalen failed field sobriety tests on scene and refused to take a chemical test.
A search warrant was obtained and blood was drawn to determine the level of intoxication. Whalen later told the arresting officer that she was driving in the field because it was on her bucket list. She was transported to the Jasper County Jail.
All subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.