COVINGTON -- Northshore authorities said a 26-year-old woman, arrested several times for driving under the influence, escaped police Wednesday night by walking out of an area hospital after being given her fifth DUI.

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Moore ran head on into a black Nissan, injuring the two people in that car.

Lt. Jack West, a Covington Police spokesman, said Destiny Hebert Moore left St. Tammany Parish Hospital around 7 p.m.

Police said Moore knew she would be going to jail as soon as she was released from the hospital. They said she slipped out of the hospital to smoke a cigarette and never returned.

She was last seen wearing a hospital gown and still had an IV line in her neck at the time of her escape, which could lead to an embolism and be fatal if she attempted to remove it, West said.

Moore’s latest accident put three people, including her infant son, in the hospital.  And as police try to find out who dropped the ball, one local corrections agency blames a lack of statewide communication.

Police said Moore was driving along a stretch of Highway 21 when she crossed the center line and struck another vehicle head on. Her 14-month-old son, Cyber, was in a car seat, but it was not strapped in properly.

Lt. Jack West, a Covington Police spokesman, said the baby suffered bruises to his head, neck, shoulder area and both knees.

“The seat actually flew forward, came loose from the backseat and struck the back of the front seat,” West said. “So the baby hit that seat at a combined speed somewhere between 50 mph and 70 mph.”

60-year-old Charlene Page was driving the black Nissan that was hit head on. She suffered several broken bones; her passenger is still in the hospital with unknown injuries.

Moore, who has a laundry list of drug arrests and parole violations, admitted to being on a drug cocktail of Methodone, Lortab and Xanax, police said. And it wasn't her first time driving under the influence.

According to records from the Department of Corrections, in 1998, she was arrested for underage DUI in Gretna; there was no record of the case going to court. In '99, she was arrested again and convicted of DUI in Jefferson Parish and sentenced to six months considering prior drug convictions. Shortly after, Moore was also sentenced to ten years for distribution of LSD, and got paroled after three and a half months.

Back on the streets, Moore received another DUI in St. Tammany Parish in 2004 and a six month suspended sentence; in November 2005, a fourth DUI by State Police in Tangipahoa Parish. Last Friday made number five.

“I can't see how anybody with four DWI’s is out on the street with a valid driver's license, especially somebody who's still involved in narcotics,” West said.

Department of Corrections officials said the reason Destiny Hebert was out driving last week was they had no idea about her last DUI until they were told by Eyewitness News.

“If we don't get notified about that arrest from the offender themselves or from concerned family or friends, then it's quite possible that we won't know about that,” said Felix Indest, Covington Probation and Parole administrator.

Indest said his agency doesn't run regular rap sheets on the 3,800 people it supervises, but in his district of St. Tammany and Washington parishes, police notify him of arrested parolees. Other parishes do not.

Indest believes there was miscommunication involved and said Moore should have been in jail well before this accident took place.

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Moore was said to have been on a cocktail of Methodone, Lortab and Xanax, according to police.

But Indest said it's going to take a lot more concern and cooperation to stop the same thing from happening again.

“When that person is arrested by any other agency, there's some flag that comes up showing that person is on probation or parole, that agency would automatically notify the other agency,” Indest said.

Indest said his office has applied for a new program called "Thinkstream," which shows arrests in all parishes, and would allow police to crosscheck names until the entire state gets on the same page.

“You're always going to have people fall through the cracks; this is a fact of life. But it seems like there should be some backup procedure,” West said.

West said Moore crawled into the passenger seat after Friday's accident and claimed she wasn't driving, as an off-duty nurse took care of her son. She allegedly denied treatment, but had to undergo emergency surgery for a ruptured spleen after being forced to the hospital.

Moore was charged with fifth offense DWI and three counts of vehicular negligent injury.

Moore had not gone to trial for the 2005 DUI yet. Calls to the Tangipahoa Parish District Attorney’s Office were also not returned.

Following Moore's escape from the hospital, police said they brought her husband in for questioning.

As for Moore's baby, West said no one appeared at a child service's hearing on Tuesday to claim him and was remanded into state custody.