Woman arraigned in Bullock crash

Pleads not guilty to drunken driving

Lucile Gatchell was involved in a collision with the movie star.

GLOUCESTER - A Gloucester woman accused of slamming into a car in which movie star Sandra Bullock was riding pleaded not guilty to drunken driving charges yesterday and was ordered by the judge not to drink or drive.

Lucile P. Gatchell, 64, wore sunglasses and sat in silence during the court proceeding in Gloucester District Court and declined to comment about the accident after leaving the courtroom.

She was arrested Friday night and charged with driving under the influence and failure to stay in a marked lane after being involved in a head-on collision with Bullock's rented sport utility vehicle. Gatchell was released without bail by District Court Judge Joseph W. Jennings III and is due back in court June 6.

Bullock, 43, is in the area shooting the romantic comedy "The Proposal" and had just finished filming for the day in Rockport. She and her husband, TV personality Jesse James, and their driver, Mark Hussey, were not injured in the collision. After the accident, Bullock expressed concern about Gatchell and stood near the damaged vehicles hugging her husband.

Bullock - who has starred in several films, including "Crash," "Miss Congeniality," and "Speed" - did not attend the arraignment. She was filming yesterday on Cape Ann and could not be reached for comment. Bullock began filming there 10 days ago and is expected to continue through the end of May.

Since Friday, news of the accident involving Bullock has been widely reported in celebrity publications, and after the arraignment several news photographers waited for Gatchell and her lawyer outside of the courthouse.

"Ms. Gatchell is very relieved that no one was injured in the accident," her lawyer, Benjamin Richard, said after the arraignment. "She also wants to extend her gratitude to Ms. Bullock, and Mr. James for the concern they showed to her at the time of the accident."

Richard said that Gatchell was not hurt and that his client had never been arrested before.

When police arrived at the scene of the accident, they were told by Bullock's driver that Gatchell had crossed lanes and crashed into his vehicle. Hussey told police he was driving 15 to 20 miles per hour.

According to the police report, a witness who was driving behind Gatchell told police that he had noticed that Gatchell was driving erratically and that he was in the process of calling 911 when the accident occurred.

According to the report, Gatchell told the arresting officer that she had consumed two glasses of wine before the accident. The arresting officer, Kevin Mackey, wrote in his report that Gatchell appeared "dazed and confused."

"I immediately detected the strong odor of liquor coming from her person as she sat inside the damaged motor vehicle," wrote Mackey, who responded to the accident on East Main Street at 9:50 p.m. Friday. "Her eyes were bloodshot and glassy. Her speech was extremely slurred as she spoke."

Mackey wrote in his report that Gatchell failed four field sobriety tests Friday night and that her blood alcohol level registered .20, which is more than twice the legal limit.

After the collision, Mackey said, Gatchell was told several times that she had hit Bullock, and each time she expressed shock, as if it was the first time she heard.

"She said, 'My first drunk driving incident, and I hit Sandra Bullock,' " Mackey said in an interview. "She was almost laughing. But crying, too."