DATE: Thursday, May 29, 1997                TAG: 9705290450

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   34 lines

POLICE ACCUSE DRIVER OF CAUSING COLLISION

A woman who drove into the path of a police car earlier this month was arrested and charged this week with three counts of malicious assault, police said.

Stephanie A. Woolet, 25, was arrested Tuesday and was being held without bond at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center. Woolet of the 100 block of Palm Beach Place also was served with a warrant charging her with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Woolet's arrest stems from a crash at 12:30 a.m. May 18 near Silina and Dillon drives in the city's Princess Anne section.

Police said their investigation showed that the crash was intentional, rather than a traffic accident. Woolet apparently intended to harm herself and drove into the path of the oncoming vehicle, police spokesman Lou Thurston said.

Master Police Officer Dennis Dorshimer of the police K-9 Corps was traveling west on Silina when his vehicle was struck by a 1991 Oldsmobile driven by Woolet, who failed to yield at a yield sign on Dillon, police said.

The impact sent Dorshimer's car into a nearby yard. Heavy-duty rescue equipment was needed to extricate Woolet and two other occupants of the Oldsmobile.

Dorshimer and the Oldsmobile's occupants were to taken to local hospitals. Dorshimer, the most seriously injured, was hospitalized for three days. The other occupants of the Oldsmobile were Danyelle J. Nimmo, 26, of the 600 block of Aubrey Drive and John J. Evans, 32, of the 7400 block of Kenmore Drive in Norfolk. KEYWORDS: ACCIDENT TRAFFIC INJURIES ARREST

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