You don’t have to be a broker to dispense this advice: don’t drive your Prius with a python wrapped around your neck – especially if you’re impaired, and you’ve just stolen the snake.
A New York woman, who crashed her Toyota Prius into a firehouse with a stolen python wrapped around her neck, faces charges of reckless endangerment and larceny, police said this week.
Sarah Espinosa, 22, from Albany, drove over the center median on the Jericho Turnpike in Long Island late Monday and plowed through the garage door of the New Hyde Park Fire House, damaging two fire trucks, said Nassau County Police Department in a statement.
“Fire personnel who were present at the time of the accident rendered aid to the victim, at which time they discovered a small ball python snake wrapped around the defendant's neck,” reported police.
According to Reuters, firefighters removed the snake and Espinosa was transported to a local hospital, where she was released a short time later.
Espinosa was charged with reckless driving, driving while intoxicated, and unlawful possession of marijuana in addition to reckless endangerment in the second degree and petit larceny.
Police said they were not sure if the snake had been strangling Espinosa and caused her to crash, or if her driving was impaired by intoxication.
Espinosa is accused of stealing the snake from a nearby PETCO store before the crash, police said. The animal, priced at $89.99, was returned to the pet store later that same day.
According to the PETCO website, small ball pythons are smaller and more docile than other types of python.
