'Bachelor's Melissa Rycroft Told Cops She Was Hit Before DWI Arrest, Police Allege

Melissa Rycroft allegedly claimed to be the victim of a hit-and-run before cops arrested her for driving while intoxicated ... but, they say a witness totally contradicted the claim.

We've obtained a search warrant from law enforcement in Tarrant County, Texas ... which states officers responded to a call just after noon on September 23 -- where they say they found Melissa standing with an off-duty firefighter and swaying.

The officer claims Melissa had "bloodshot eyes, slurred speech" and alleges she "had a slight odor of a metabolized alcoholic beverage" on her breath.

According to the docs, Melissa told an officer she'd been hit by another driver who then fled the scene ... and, the officer says he noticed damage to the right side of Rycroft's black Cadillac Escalade as well as damage to a tree on the side of the road.

While investigating, the officer says a someone approached claiming to have witnessed the whole thing ... telling the officer he saw the car swerving back and forth on the road for no reason.

The officer states the witness told him he also saw the car sitting at an intersection for an extended period of time and specifically said Melissa was the "only car" involved in the accident.

Cops say they then administered field sobriety tests on Melissa and, based on the results, ultimately put Rycroft into the back of his police car. He then searched her car and allegedly found cups with "fresh droplets of colored liquid substances and spilled liquids inside the vehicle" which the officer believed to be alcohol.

Southlake PD tells us ... nobody was injured and there were no other vehicles involved in the crash.

We broke the story of Melissa's arrest ... she was taken into custody and booked into the local jail -- though she was later released on $1,000 bond.