A 35-year-old woman was arrested and hit with multiple charges after she allegedly slipped out of her handcuffs and accessed the front seat of a Broxton Police Department patrol vehicle because she was trying to get her phone.
The Broxton Police Department issued a press release on its Facebook page describing the alleged incident. According to BPD, on the evening of July 2, 2026, a BPD officer made a traffic stop for failure to maintain lane. The driver, identified as Erin Christine Newell, 35, of Douglas, was allegedly intoxicated and arrested for driving under the influence.
While Newell was handcuffed in the back seat of the vehicle, the release states that she slipped out of the handcuffs, unlocked the prisoner partition, and accessed the front seat of the vehicle. The arresting officer “immediately regained control of the situation and secured the suspect without injury to anyone involved.”
The officer asked Newell why she got out of her cuffs and unlocked the partition. According to the release, she said, “I just wanted my phone.”
Newell was charged with failure to maintain lane, failure to obey traffic control devices, holding/supporting a wireless telecommunication device, no proof of insurance, open container, resisting an officer/escape, disorderly conduct, and DUI. She was booked into the Coffee County Jail and released on property bonds for all charges. The total amount of the property bonds was $10,274.
