Citizens halt drunk driver in Mission

ST. IGNATIUS — It must have been a strange sight for Robin Frye and Caleb Williams Saturday evening on U.S. Highway 93 just north of St. Ignatius: a Subaru driving south in the northbound lane.

“[We] got to where it goes into the 70 mph zone and there was a blinker in the northbound lane, but there were no headlights or taillights. I didn’t know if it was a disabled vehicle or what,” said Frye, who was driving to her home in St. Ignatius.

But unlike most folks who would just call 911 to report the reckless driver, Frye pulled the car over and Williams approached the Subaru, determined the driver was drunk and kept watch over the vehicle as Frye called the police.

Jeannine Helms, 66, of St. Ignatius, was subsequently arrested and charged with driving under the influence.

“People call them in all the time, but I’ve never had anybody ever take the step to detain the person,” Lake County Undersheriff Dan Yonkin said.

Frye, who has worked as a nurse for almost three decades, said she was originally just concerned for the driver’s safety.

“I was concerned that she might be having a seizure or a heart attack or something that might make her be driving erratically,” she said.

Helms was certainly out of it, though.

“I started flashing my headlights ... and honking my horn, and it still took her a quarter of a mile to pull over,” Frye said.

Helms was booked into Lake County Jail but was released later in the evening.

Helms’ passenger had a concealed handgun, but never threatened Williams. Yonkin said the passenger will likely be charged with carrying a concealed weapon while under the influence.

“It didn’t come out and wasn’t used at any point,” Yonkin said, noting that he released the information to caution people who may think of performing a citizen’s arrest in the future of the dangers. “We got it because we were moving him into a different vehicle and did a pat-down search and found.”

Frye insists that her actions did not constitute a citizen’s arrest.

“We didn’t arrest nobody,” she said. “I wouldn’t recommend anybody doing it because you never know how people are going to react when they’re under the influence of something.”

And even though it was dangerous, she still thinks that she and Williams did the right thing.

“Our world is so crazy that you don’t know,” Frye said. “She could have been having a heart attack or been struggling with a hijacker. I just wanted to make sure that everything was ok.”