Family found elderly woman sitting in feces after caretaker took her car on drunken joyride, deputies say

BATON ROUGE – An elderly woman’s family found her sitting in feces and urine after she had been left alone for several hours when her caretaker had taken her car and been arrested for DWI. 

The caretaker, Danielle Price, 49, was arrested for DWI last year but was re-arrested Monday for additional charges. 

According to the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office, Price was arrested for DWI on October 29, 2022. Her BAC was .3%, over three times the legal limit. Deputies later found that Price had been hired to take care of an 87-year-old woman and was only authorized to use the woman’s vehicle to go grocery shopping and provide other basic needs for round-the-clock care. 

The woman’s family realized something was wrong when they went to check on her and found that she was sitting unattended in feces and urine. Neighbors told the woman’s family that they had noticed her car was not at the residence at 10 a.m. that morning. 

Price was arrested around 7:30 p.m., meaning the woman was left alone for at least nine hours. 

Though Price was arrested for DWI when the crash initially happened, she was arrested again Monday for cruelty to the infirmed and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.