RANGELEY – A school cafeteria worker was arrested Monday night after police found a bong full of marijuana in her car, a bag of pot in her purse, and smelled alcohol on her breath after a rear-end collision on Dallas Hill Road.

Laurie Kovarie, 51, of 35 Cross St. in Rangeley was charged with possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, operating under the influence, leaving the scene of property damage accident and resisting arrest.

Kovarie had no comment when she was contacted Tuesday afternoon.

Police officer Jared Austin said Tuesday that Kovarie’s car struck the back of a minivan driven by Arsenio Mestre, 45, a family doctor from Orlando, Fla., as the two vehicles were traveling down Dallas Hill Road toward the intersection with Route 4.

When Austin arrived, he said, he was met by both parties.

It appears she came down the hill and “creamed” the rear end of the minivan as both vehicles were still moving, Austin said.

Mestre, his wife, Cathy, 43, and five children were on vacation skiing at Saddleback Mountain, Austin said. The couple’s children, Juliana, 11, Cathleen, 9, and Mark, 5, complained of pain, but their father declined to have an ambulance check them out, Austin said. The others, Alex, 13, and Daniel, 8, did not complain of pain at the time, Austin said.

The officer said Mestre told him he believed Kovarie was intoxicated because he could smell alcohol on her.

Austin said he then interviewed Kovarie, whom the officer said works in the cafeteria at Rangeley Lakes Regional School, and asked her several times for her insurance card, but she didn’t give it to him. He also smelled alcohol on Kovarie, he said, and asked her how many drinks she had.

Kovarie said she had three drinks, according to the officer. He told her they were going to do a field sobriety test, and they could either do it on the slippery Dallas Hill or go to the police station. She said she wasn’t going to do it, he said, and walked back to her car.

Austin said he gave her the option two more times and she still refused.

He went back to his cruiser, he said, and he saw Kovarie get out of her car and start walking away.

He yelled to her to stop but she kept going, he added, and he had to run after her.

“I told her, ‘you’re not free to go,'” Austin said.

He grabbed her arm and put her under arrest, he said, and then she ripped her arm away.

“I had to forcibly put handcuffs on her,” Austin said.

When he went back to search the car, he said, he found the insurance card on the passenger seat. He also found a bong full of unburned marijuana on the floor near the gas pedal, Austin said.

Back at the police station, when he searched Kovarie and her belongings, Austin said he discovered a bag of marijuana in her purse. Kovarie again refused to do field tests and Austin said he took her to the Franklin County Detention Center in Farmington.

Police Chief Phil Weymouth said Tuesday the marijuana weighed 2½ ounces.

Union 37 Superintendent Phil Richardson confirmed that Kovarie worked at the school but declined further comment.

Kovarie is scheduled to appear March 20 in 12th District Court in Farmington. Kovarie was released from jail on $3,000 unsecured bail early Tuesday, a corrections officer said.