Falling Apart

07/26/2007 at 12:00 PM EDT

July 24 should have marked a new start for Lindsay Lohan. Eleven days after finishing a 46-day stint at Promises rehab clinic, the actress was sporting an electronic anklet as proof of a new sober life – and it seemed she might have straightened out. On her schedule: a taping of a Tonight Show segment to promote her new movie, I Know Who Killed Me, and an afternoon tango lesson to prepare for her next role in the romance Dare to Love Me. But she never made it to either appointment.

Around 1:30 that morning, Lohan took the wheel of a white SUV in pursuit of a vehicle driven by Michelle Peck, the mother of Tarin Graham, one of her assistants – and seemingly crashed all hopes of a comeback. Responding to a call from Peck, claiming that someone – a someone who turned out to be Lohan – was chasing her through the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., local police later arrested Lohan for DUI (her blood alcohol level was .13; the legal limit is .08), driving with a suspended license and – after finding a small amount of the drug in her pocket during a search – cocaine possession. After posting $25,000 bail, Lohan was released. During the ordeal, says one cop, "she was crying and upset."