Teens Bust Limo Driver For Wild Ride On Prom Night

Patrick Curley and his nine friends hired a limo driver to take them to their high school prom because they wanted to be safe on a night known for underage drinking and occasional recklessness.

Limo Driver Drunk Prom Students 041105 Three of the students heading to prom stop to pose with the police cruiser that arrived to assist them. But it was the limo driver who proved reckless last Saturday. The students had to take the keys away from her after they say she drove through stop signs, cut off other drivers and drove on the wrong side of the road.

"We wanted to get to prom sooner or later and she had no idea where she was going and what she was doing," said student Pat Curley. "Getting on I-4 like that just, we woulda been done."

News of the Strange SHORT Right Not weird enough? Read more strange newsLOOK! Strange News Photos Christina Tomacelli, 49, of Altamonte Springs was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and refusing to submit to a blood-alcohol test. Deputies who arrested the limo driver said they found a half-empty bottle of Smirnoff Citrus Twist on the center console next to the driver's seat. She also told deputies that she had been drinking wine.

"I had taken some medications and I did not eat," Tomacelli told Channel 9.

Tomacelli didn't return a phone call to her home Tuesday.

Tomacelli's driving history, though, is extensive. She's been arrested in the past 15 years for DUI three times now, as well as multiple citations for open container violations, operating an unsafe vehicle, passing in the wrong lane, and not wearing a seatbelt.

Strange News Photos (LEFT) STRANGE PHOTOSView 99 PHOTOS of Strange News Patrick, a senior at Winter Springs High School, used his cell phone to call home and report the driver's erratic behavior.

Robert Curley told his son to tell the limo driver to pull over, and when she stopped, the students took the keys out of the ignition. The father then called 911 to the Seminole County Sheriff's Office as he drove to the scene.

Suspect Christina Tomacelli 041105 Limo Driver DUI Christina Tomacelli 9-1-1 Caller: "I rented a limo for my kids to go to prom."

9-1-1 Dispatcher: "Uh huh?"

Caller: "The driver is drunk."

Dispatcher: "Oh, you're kidding."

Caller: "No."

"This is unbelievable," Robert Curley told dispatchers. "We rented the limo so you're obviously going to be safe."

The students used his van and a vehicle brought by another parents to get to the prom -- 1 1/2 hours late.

"They did the right thing. They got their dad involved. They got the driver to pull over. And, they got us involved. They kept a potential tragedy from happening," said Steve Olsen, Seminole County Sheriff's Office.

The owner of A-Select Limo and A-Elegant Limousine Services says he was unaware of Tomacelli's past and that since her DUI arrests were more than three years old, they didn't pop up on a search by his insurance company. When asked if he was aware of her other citations, he hung up.