Driver didn't realize she was in New Jersey, police say

Matthew Diebel | USA TODAY

The clues were all around her. The Hudson River and the Manhattan skyline looming ahead. The cheap New Jersey gasoline – less than $2 a gallon! – at the line of gas stations. The signs saying "Jersey City."

But still Karol Andino was confused, according to police officers. So confused that she repeatedly told them she was "looking for New Jersey."

Maybe not surprisingly, she is charged with drunken driving.

According to reports in local media, Port Authority Police Officer Rhett Peppi approached 31-year-old Andino around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday after the North Bergen woman stopped her car near the Holland Tunnel entrance in Jersey City and got out of her 2000 Volkswagen Beetle.

When she told them she was "looking for New Jersey," Peppi told her that's where she was, reported local TV station WABC. But Andino continued to say she was "looking for New Jersey," and she was charged a short time later.

According to a report in the Jersey Journal newspaper, Peppi noticed her eyes were red and watery. Andino also had trouble standing on her own and admitted she "had a few drinks," local TV station WNBC reported.

She was then arrested after a Breathalyzer test revealed her blood alcohol content allegedly was .25, more than three times over the .08 legal limit, and was charged with DWI and careless driving, Port Authority spokesman Joe Pentangelo told the Journal.

According to the paper, it was not Peppi's only unusual DWI arrest of the weekend – he also collared a Jersey City man who allegedly struck a Port Authority vehicle as he tried to enter the Holland Tunnel, Pentangelo said.

A phone number in Andino's name was not answered Monday afternoon, The Associated Press reported, adding that it is not known if she has retained a lawyer who could comment on her behalf.