Woman who hit actress gets probation

Lucile Gatchell pleaded guilty to drunken driving in her collision with a vehicle carrying Sandra Bullock.

The Gloucester woman who crashed her car last month into the sport utility vehicle carrying actress Sandra Bullock pleaded guilty yesterday to drunken driving and failing to stay within marked lanes, Essex prosecutors said.

Lucile Gatchell, 64, was placed on probation for a year. Gloucester District Court Judge Joseph Jennings also ordered her to complete an alcohol safety education program. Her license will be suspended for 60 days.

Gatchell drove her gray station wagon across the center line on East Main Street in Gloucester about 9:50 p.m. on April 18, smashing into the car containing Bullock, her husband, Jesse James, and their driver. No one was injured, the Essex district attorney's office said.

Bullock, 43, was in the area shooting the romantic comedy "The Proposal." She had just finished filming for the day in Rockport.

Gatchell's lawyer, Benjamin Richard, did not immediately return a message seeking comment yesterday.

After Gatchell's arraignment in late April, Richard said his client was very relieved that no one was injured and grateful for the concern Bullock and James showed for her after the accident.

Officer Kevin Mackey, who arrested Gatchell, said Gatchell was told several times that she had hit Bullock.

Each time she expressed shock, as if it was the first time she had heard.

"She said, 'My first drunk driving incident, and I hit Sandra Bullock,' " Mackey told the Globe last month. "She was almost laughing. But crying, too."

Shooting for the movie in the Cape Ann area will continue until the middle of next week, a publicist for the movie said yesterday.