

SPARTA — When would-be police enter training, they're taught to be prepared for just about anything.



But it's a safe bet "naked drivers" don't show up anywhere on the academy syllabus.



Sparta police say a drunken, seemingly confused and almost completely nude woman crashed into a home's stone retaining wall early Friday morning.



At 12:53 a.m., a resident of Grove Terrace, in the Lake Mohawk section of the township, contacted police to say a white Volkswagen Jetta had just crashed into a stone retaining wall, then fled the scene, Sgt. John-Paul Beebe said.



Officer Joseph Pensado found the vehicle, and stopped it on West Shore Trail, Beebee said. Inside, he found a surprise — the driver, 36-year-old Catherine Giaquinto of Warwick, N.Y., was wearing only an unzipped jacket, Beebe said.



According to weatherunderground.com, temperatures dipped as low as 16 degrees Fahrenheit Friday, and never quite got above the freezing mark.



Pensado asked Giaquinto why she was driving in the nude, and "Giaquinto denied being completely naked," Beebe said.



There was fresh damage to the left-front fender, the driver-side door and the rear-left door, Beebee said.

Pensado suspected Giaquinto was under the influence of alcohol — her speech was badly slurred and mostly unintelligible, she couldn't remember if she'd been involved in an accident and she didn't know where she was going, Beebe said.



Pensado saw a dress and other clothing in the rear passenger seat, retrieved the items and told Giaquinto to get dressed, Beebe said. It took about 10 minutes for her to do so, and when she finally did, she put her dress on inside-out, he said.



Giaquinto wasn't able to maintain her balance to listen to the instructions for a roadside DWI test, Beebe said. She was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated, refusal to submit to breath testing, leaving the scene of an accident, careless driving and failure to wear a seatbelt, Beebe said. She was also cited for an alleged documentation violation, he said.



Her vehicle was impounded, and she was released to a sober adult several hours later, Beebe said.



Sgt. Jeffrey Mase and Cpl. Marc Rubino assisted with the investigation, he said.

