Daughter of late multimillionaire arrested

Boston police officers might not have known who Jacqueline Kent Cooke's father was when they arrested her yesterday morning, but they said they did know she ignored their repeated warnings and committed a crime.

Cooke, 20, of Dallas was charged with operating under the influence and operating without a license after she started her car despite the officers' warnings, police said in a statement.

When she was being booked, Cooke asked the officers whether they knew who her father was. She then told them he was Jack Kent Cooke, the late multimillionaire and former owner of the Washington Redskins, Los Angeles Lakers, and Los Angeles Kings, and said she would have the officers' badges because "$1 billion goes a long way," police said.

Officers patrolling the South End had seen Cooke and another woman quickly leaving the South Street Diner about 5:15, with a waitress following closely behind, police said. The waitress told police the women had not paid. Cooke and the woman told police they had forgotten about the bill, and then went inside to pay.

While the women were paying, the officers saw car keys for a BMW fall onto the counter, and since both women appeared to be intoxicated, asked whether they had driven to the diner. The women said they had not driven, and when police asked whether a BMW parked nearby belonged to them, they said it did not.

Minutes later, officers saw the two women walk to the car. They approached them again, asking whether they had the keys. One of the women said she gave the keys to her brother, who would take them home, according to the statement. Officers suggested the women take a taxi home, but they walked away, police said.

The pair returned to the car 10 minutes later and told the officers that it was useless for them to keep watching because they could not stop them from driving home, police said. The officers again suggested a taxi.

Then, police said, one of the women stepped into the street, lifted her skirt, and exposed her buttocks to the officers. The women got into the car at 5:40 a.m. and, despite warnings from the officers, started the engine, leading to Cooke's arrest, police said. She pleaded not guilty to charges of driving under the influence and driving without a license in Boston Municipal Court yesterday.

"The arresting officer was really trying to save her from herself . . . and potentially other innocents who would be sharing the road with her," said Jake Wark, a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office.

Attempts to reach Cooke last night were unsuccessful. The lawyer who represented her, Emily Karstetter, did not return a message left at her office last night.