So the other night I'm out, and I stop to back up another officer who has a suspected drunk driver. He puts the guy through field sobriety tests and he fails miserably. He checks him with the portable breath tester and gets a reading back of 0.27. Whoa! Legal limit is 0.08--this guy is over three times that. He gets locked up and we impound his car.
Complicating things, of course, is the presence of his baby momma in the car as a passenger, along with their child--a two year old named Dayquan who is not in a car seat. There is no car seat in the car. Dayquan was just loose in the back seat without even a seatbelt.
This is added to the driver's DWI, and it becomes an aggravating factor for charging and sentencing. If convicted, he's going to do time.
Mama just shrugged when we asked where the car seat was. She knew that he was supposed to be in one, but it was in another car and she admitted that she just didn't feel like taking it out of that one and putting it in this one.
But the funny part came when Dayquan decided to get out of their car and walk around. His mama actually scolded him for getting out without his coat. "Dayquan! You put your coat on right now. Mama doesn't want you getting sick."
So going out without a coat in 60-degree weather is bad, but riding around unrestrained in a car driven by a drunk is ok. Got it.
I made sure that a copy of the report was sent to Child Protective Services, with a recommendation for home visits and other follow-ups.
Buyer Beware...
7 years ago
5 comments:
I will never forget the one day when my son was a baby and I was installing one of his car seats. After a half hour struggle, a whole lot of sweat, some curse words, and possibly a broken nail, I was driving to work only to get behind a vehicle with a two year old just be-bopping around in the back seat. I called 911 and reported the plate number. I was completely furious. Especially after what I had just endured.
As a bus driver, i see this ALL the time. Kids unrestrained in vehicles. Just recently a 3 yr old was ejected out of a vehicle that was involved in a head on collision in my home town. She was unrestrained. I'll never understand why people don't buckle their children up.
Gah! I hate that more than anything. Now a days they have the fancy "quick" release ones it's super easy set it up once with the bucket then just pop the car seat out of the bucket and pop it back in again. You can install buckets into multiple cars! Sheesh people! Not hard!!
But I just don't understand these people. Sure you can drive me an my kid around drunk! but let me make sure my kid has a coat on *shakes her head*
xx
Jaxs
Of all the moronic things people do, I think not putting a kid in a car seat is the worst. I think it's even worse than drunk driving [which I never ever EVER condone] with your kid, because even if you don't get in an accident that doesn't stop the 9999 other morons out there (drunk or otherwise) from plowing into you.
Really, if you can't be bothered to put your kid in a car seat, either don't go out or don't reproduce. Morons.
I see it a fair amount around here. I will never understand it. All the local hospitals give out infant car seats to new moms, and when it comes to your toddler, you can get the basic backless booster at Wal-Mart for $14 (not ideal, but better than nothing). If you can afford a car, you can afford a car seat.
Texas just went to an 8-and-under law; earlier in the school year one of the other mothers asked me if I'd had to buy new car seats. It took me a while to figure out what the heck she was talking about--neither of my older kids is big enough to be riding without a booster, so even the eight-year-old is still in one.
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