Mom blows nearly 5x the legal limit...with kids in car

[FCD]

If you guys don't like me posting some of these current events stories which I think are interesting thought provoking, then just let me know and I will cease and desist.

I think there are several different perspectives on this particular case.  This incident happened just the other day (April 5).  I'll post some links, but here's the basic breakdown and quick summary...

A mom driving with her three young children in the car gets in an accident with a 800 series 28' foot box truck in NJ on what appears to be a semi-residential street.  Her Chevy Traverse is badly damaged on the front end, and the box truck she hit has had the rear axle knocked out from under it.  She has three kids in the car, 8, 7, and 4.  Mom is clearly acting intoxicated when police arrive.  Police eventually determine from witness statements that the woman pulled out of a side street and crashed into the truck (despite her telling a completely different story).  In the course of the ensuing discussion, the woman reveals she is recently divorced and living with her brother.  Additionally, police also find multiple empty wine bottles 'stashed' inside the vehicle. After a very (and I mean 'very') lengthy discussion with the woman (and a field sobriety test), police eventually take her into custody on suspicion of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI).  At the station, she blows a 0.371% BAC in a State where the legal limit is 0.08% (most non-alcoholics would pass out well before this level of BAC). She is nearly 5x over the legal limit. She is eventually charged on multiple offenses:

-Operating under the influence
-Reckless driving
-Careless driving
-Driving an unregistered motor vehicle
-Failure to possess driver insurance card

AND...she is also charged with (3) counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.  

I'll post the story, and the videos below so you can see for yourself.  I encourage you to at least glance at both to see the independent facts and raw video.

Here is the News story

And here is the video, though I just want to caution you up front; this video is over (1) hour long (that's how long this whole ordeal takes), so you might want to skip through it, or watch the whole thing...your choice. Here's the video (my questions to follow below)...




The news article is a different source than the video, and the video is police bodycam video.

Here's my questions for you to contemplate:

1. Should it have really taken this long to take this clearly intoxicated woman into custody?  (i.e. Is this a proper use of valuable law enforcement resources?)
2. Were the police too hard on this woman who alleges to be going through a difficult time?  (i.e. she made a bad life mistake, no one died and she deserves another chance)  OR...
3. Would your answer to questions #1 and #2 change if you learned that this same woman was also charged with another DWI in December 2024 (just 5 months ago)?

NOTE - She WAS in fact, charged and convicted of DWI in December 2024, just 5 months ago.

This woman has likely destroyed pretty much her entire life at this point.  She is apparently an employee of NJ DOT as a planner.  She won't have that job long (if she still does).  Her school age children now don't have Mom available to drive them anywhere, because 'Mom" ain't gettin' insurance anytime soon with (2) DWI's, a Reckless, an Endangerment, a Careless, and an Unregistered, plus Uninsured charge against her.  (in fact, she's a good candidate for never getting insurance again in her natural life based on how insurance companies operate).

SO...what do you think?

I won't just leave you hear, hanging with an unanswered question; I will give you my thoughts here at the end...

I personally feel...as sad as it may be, she made her bed, and now she has to suffer the consequences, regardless of how harsh they may seem.  I could excuse a lot here, but there are two things I cannot excuse.  One, her kids in the car.  And two, the danger she posed to other motorists on the road.  If she drove off a cliff and only killed herself; hey, I'd be fine with it, but she didn't do this.  She risked the lives of not only others, but others who had no choice but to depend on her.  Divorce and other excuses be damned!  (and why did I know she'd use this as an excuse in the first 15 seconds of the video?  I don't know, but I did.)

[FCD]

Just a side note...

Knowing DA's like I do (I have several friends who are DA's), the DA will likely toss the Insurance charge, the Registration charge and the Careless charge (that, or keep the Careless charge, and drop the Reckless charge (probably more likely)).  Even so, the remaining charges coupled with the Endangerment charge(s) are very serious charges.  Given her priors, the DA could possibly even treat the Reckless and Endangerment charge(s) as Felonies if they want to leave a mark.

And, I hate to say this last part, but I need to...this woman is also Caucasian, doesn't qualify for any special DEI consideration, and likely has some money (not a lot, but enough, from a decent job).  So, she will get no mercy from the justice system.  Technically, this shouldn't influence your answers to the questions above, but given today's society it's a sad statement that I would be remiss for not mentioning these things because far worse criminals have gotten off scott -free with nothing more than a slap on the wrist for far worse crimes.

[Nugget]

To be able to function at all with that high of a BA level suggests she's been a heavy drinker for a long, long time. Problem is even loosing her kids and jail time won't change her if she doesn't want to change.

Thankfully the kids weren't killed!

[Michigan Swampbuck]

She is probably a full-blown alcoholic who drinks daily, the kind who can't function without a drink. I knew people like that, including women. My one friend drank Bacardi rum and Coke all day like it was an IV in her arm. She never seemed loaded, but I bet she could blow a good level at any given moment. She was a highly functional drunk, and you would likely never know it unless it was on her breath.

1. Should it have really taken this long to take this clearly intoxicated woman into custody? (i.e. Is this a proper use of valuable law enforcement resources?)

A: No, it was clear she was drinking.

2. Were the police too hard on this woman who alleges to be going through a difficult time? (i.e. she made a bad life mistake, no one died and she deserves another chance) OR...

A: No need to be hard, just do the job and arrest her. Try to treat the kids in the car nicely by treating Mom well seems like the way to handle this, though.

3. Would your answer to questions #1 and #2 change if you learned that this same woman was also charged with another DWI in December 2024 (just 5 months ago)?

A: Yes, a previous DWI makes this woman a clear danger, considering the fact that she had such a terrible accident with this DWI. It might be a little different if this were her first drunk driving, and the divorce had just occurred, but obviously, she has a drinking problem. Her drinking could be why a divorce had occurred in the first place.

[FCD]

I wonder, what do you even tell a judge when you're standing before him/her asking for leniency prior to sentencing???

I'm sorry?
I won't do it again?
I have a problem?
I have remorse?
But...my kids?

I don't think there's anything you really can say.  Maybe it's just better to not say anything at all.

I dunno, with stories like these there's a legal side, there's a societal side and there's a personal side, maybe even a medical side, and in this particular case all of those sides seem to conflict with each other.  And the net result is what we see in the OP where all those worlds collide (literally and metaphorically).

[Ksihkehe]

1. Should it have really taken this long to take this clearly intoxicated woman into custody?  (i.e. Is this a proper use of valuable law enforcement resources?)

I don't know what the full situation was, but it could be they knew they were going to have to wait for family services or a confirmed guardian to come for the kids. They maybe took their time and let her drone on even though they knew she was going to jail. I admittedly only read your post though and didn't watch the video.

It sucks she's having a hard time, but she needs to be held accountable. She's going to end up killing herself of somebody else.

I would imagine she's close to or over .08 when she wakes up in the morning if she's able to function at that crazy BAC. That's late stage dependence where there is no longer any real semblance of keeping your shit together. I guess waking up in jail in withdrawal wasn't enough of a wake-up call the first time.

[FCD]

I don't know what the full situation was, but it could be they knew they were going to have to wait for family services or a confirmed guardian to come for the kids. They maybe took their time and let her drone on even though they knew she was going to jail. I admittedly only read your post though and didn't watch the video.

It sucks she's having a hard time, but she needs to be held accountable. She's going to end up killing herself of somebody else.

I would imagine she's close to or over .08 when she wakes up in the morning if she's able to function at that crazy BAC. That's late stage dependence where there is no longer any real semblance of keeping your shit together. I guess waking up in jail in withdrawal wasn't enough of a wake-up call the first time.

I had an (alcoholic) friend once who asked me..."You know, the feeling when you wake up in the morning and literally feel like you're going to 'die', for real, unless you just take a bump off that pint of whiskey stuck under your mattress, right?  I'm not talking like hangover and 'hair of the dog' kind of stuff, but you feel like you're absolutely going to have to go to the hospital or else you'll seriously DIE!"  He told me this after he'd been sober for several years, but it was a serious question.  I thought to myself, and I could never remember even contemplating taking a sip of any liquor first thing in the morning, no matter how hungover I was.  He'd worked in the oilfield his entire career, which only made it 10x worse from my perspective (just from a personal health standpoint), fuck everyone else.

I just can't even imagine drinking in the morning to stave off the night before!  That just blows my mind.

P.S. Stuart was my best friend, and after 25 years of sobriety (no drugs, no alcohol), he was killed in a freak motorcycle accident on dry pavement at 70F with not a single other car or bike around. 

Anyway, sorry for the digression, but my main point was the drinking in the morning thing to get your shit together.  I can't imagine that.