LEWISTON — State police say a Litchfield woman faces her fourth OUI charge after a Wales accident.

Kristy Cookson, 33, was driving a van with her 4-year-old son Wednesday, March 25, when it went off the road and into a group of trees on Route 132 near the Sabattus town line, according to a statement by Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland.

Trooper Ricci Cote charged Cookson with operating under the influence and operating after suspension after the crash. Cote said drugs and alcohol were factors in the crash, according to McCausland. 

The van went off the road and into a clump of trees, and rescue personnel had to use a chain saw to get them out, according to McCausland.

The son received minor injuries and was treated and released from St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Lewiston. Cookson was taken to Central Maine Medical Center with a serious ankle injury.

She was discharged from the hospital during the weekend without police being notified. Police arrested her Monday afternoon at an Auburn apartment.

This is the fourth time in the past decade that Cookson has been charged with OUI, and the latest charge was increased to “aggravated” because her son was in the vehicle, according to McCausland. In addition to her three prior OUI convictions, Cookson has 13 active driver’s license suspensions.

In 2009, Cookson was shot by two Lewiston police officers after a chase through the city in her pickup truck. The chase ended when she struck a parked vehicle. Then the officers fired at her truck when she attempted to run one of them over. 

Cookson was on probation for that incident.