Updated at 10:20 a.m.
State Sen. Debbie Ingram (D-Chittenden) was arrested Thursday night and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after allegedly steering her car into a ditch, Williston police said.
Around 8 p.m., Williston police responded to a crash on South Road. Police said that Ingram, an ordained minister and a freshman senator, had gone off the road, struck a “fixed object,” continued on and then veered off the road again.
She was cited to appear in Chittenden Superior Court on November 2 on a charge of driving under the influence.
Ingram released a statement Friday morning through her attorney, Ted Kenney:
Last night I was arrested near my home in Williston and charged with a DUI. I
am grateful that no one was injured as a result of my irresponsible behavior. I
suffer from a disease for which I have been getting treatment through a 12-Step
program. I had a temporary setback last night and will continue to seek treatment to ensure that something like this never happens again. I accept full responsibility for the consequences of my actions.
Ingram, 55, a Democrat who first won election to the state Senate in 2016, is the executive director of Vermont Interfaith Action, a nonprofit alliance of religious groups. She previously served on the Williston Selectboard.
She lives on South Road in Williston, according to publicly available records. Earlier this year, she pushed for a failed bill that would have raised the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.
Ingram is a graduate of Stanford University and Fuller Theological Seminary, and completed a fellowship at Cambridge University in England, according to her legislative biography.
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That was a short career in politics and and telling other people how to live.
zebnorris, you aren’t worth listening to on the radio or in print. Funny that.
Debbie, good luck getting help. It takes courage to face our flaws, even more so to do it with the full scrutiny of the public. You have my vote and my support.
Anyone can relapse and make a mistake. The disease of addiction is so insidious. May Ingram use this as an opportunity to recommit to her recovery and find new support.
Debbie Ingram is a good woman who helps many people. She is a human being with a powerful disease. In her statement, Debbie takes responsibility for her behavior and for her treatment. I admire her honesty.
The D next to her name stands for drunk. Great leaders the dems have representing them. What a loser.
Get off your high horse Citizen–as if you are a perfect “conservative” or Republican. Nobody is perfect whether they have a D next to his or her name or not. Comments such as yours just reveal your idiocy and poorly educated short-sighted, narrow-minded world view. Grow up.
While Citizen,s comments are snarky and mean let’s not make Ingram a saint . She displayed neither courage nor responsibility . She got caught drunk driving ! This doesn’t make her an evil person but let’s not canonize her either .
Police said that Ingram, an ordained minister and a freshman senator, had gone off the road, struck a “fixed object,” continued on and then veered off the road again”; she then lost control of the car.
I really like and I support Debbie Ingram. I was quite pleased that she was elected last fall after coming in 7th (where the top six vote getters are elected) in previous runs. Of course this is disappointing. It is a personal failure but it is not any kind of abuse of power. In fact, it appears to be exactly the opposite. She has immediately taken responsibility and she’s gonna have to pay the piper.
Debbie Ingram, from as little as I know her, has a heart of gold and a compassion for the disadvantaged among us. I certainly want to see her continue in the Vermont Senate to where we, the voters in the Chittenden Senate District, elected her.
Debbie, take your lumps, pay your fines, do what they make you do, take a beating with insurance rates, get through this and come out better (and wiser, perhaps) than going in. We’re still behind you. (I’m just glad I don’t have to pay the fines and consequential costs.)
And, of course, next time call a friend with a car or call a cab.
Stunning how many people are willing to come to the defense to a drunk who put others’ lives at risk…are we serious about drunk driving or not?
Alcoholism is a disease. Drunk driving is not. Ms. Ingram and numerous supporters sound befuddled about the distinction between the two.
Stunning how many people are willing to vote for a mendacious narcissistic demagogue who may lead the nation into its first nuclear war.
Hey RBJ take a history lesson America has already been in a nuclear war it was called WW2. If the drunk senator had hit another car and harmed or killed someone I bet you would all be singing a different tune or worse all of her supporters would be trying to blame the victim for getting in her way. This woman with a heart of gold could not have called a cab or better yet one of her supporters for a ride. Loser she should be removed from serving in the government. A person with no internal moral values should not be leading anyone.
When I hear people say this is a disease it drives me crazy!!!! It’s labeled a disease because most of the leaders in this country are drunks!!!! It’s a choice and nothing more!!!! She decided to go out drinking that day, she decided to get behind the wheel of that car. I don’t give a rat’s ass how much good she does; had she killed someone that day it would have mattered!!!
She needs to step down and get her own life in order before she cast a vote that will impact other’s life.
It’s amazing to me how many people care to judge someone who spends her life actively helping others. Clearly she isn’t perfect (but then, she never claimed she was). She succumbed to an illness, alcoholism. She could have hurt someone, including herself, but she didn’t. Many people do way worse and still deserve second chances. Many people are more selfish and deserve our sympathy.
To everyone commenting: learn how to care for your community the way Ingram does. Learn how to be non judgmental and just offer help and support to those who need it.
DWI is a choice and endangers others. Leaders set the example. They are standard-bearers, so the bar is high (no pun intended). If she is unwilling to uphold the standards expected of a Senator and ordained minister, then she should relinquish the responsibilities entrusted to her. Judge her spiritually? No, only God can do so but in terms of the obligations she willingly accepted? Absolutely! A higher standard is expected of those who write the laws of a state and the covenants for a church. There is no balance sheet wherein good deeds from the past offset a complete abrogation of authority and the responsibility associated therewith. Reverence and respect for the office and the high standards associated therewith must be safeguarded or there will be none.