Xylene, I think the situation footprints found herself in
totally justified her anger at this woman, if not totally justifying her email to the woman.
But, of course, being totally justified in your anger does not
usually excuse any illegal behavior.
As far as "not thinking",
that is the reason most people wind up on this forum with questions in the first place - because they, or someone else they know, were "not thinking" when they did something dastardly.