Family and friends of Ernestine Jenkins, 71, are questioning the woman's arrest on suspicion of DWI last weekend -- a charge she vehemently denies.
Jenkins was pulled over by authorities in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana for allegedly speeding while on her way home from a family Thanksgiving celebration.
Authorities said she was going 71 mph in a 55 mph zone and that she had crossed over the center line of the roadway. They administered a sobriety test and handcuffed Jenkins, arresting her on suspicion of DWI. But a deputy said she was under the influence not because of alcohol but because of "central nervous system depressants and narcotic analgesics."
She told WDSU News that she strongly denied the charges and that she told authorities she'd never taken a drug in her life that wasn't prescription.
Even so, she was booked and jailed.
“When I got in the holding cell, she told me to get on the floor. I got on the floor. There were six other girls in there and they took their blankets and gave them to me to be warm,” Jenkins told WDSU, crying.
After she was released, Jenkins visited a hospital to be drug-tested voluntarily. The results came back negative.
Making the situation worse is the fact that Jenkins' arrest has been playing out on social media, with friends and family questioning the actions of the sheriff's office on Facebook. Authorities continue to insist they treated Jenkins fairly and with real compassion.
“It's everywhere. ‘Ernestine Jenkins has a DWI.’ That's an awful blow for a woman my age,” she told WDSU.
For more on the story, watch the video above.
In another DWI case involving an older person earlier this year, Jessie Thornton, a 64-year-old retired firefighter living in Surprise, Ariz., was charged with driving under the influence even though breathalyzer and toxicology tests showed he was completely sober.