A Vineyard mom faces charges after showing up drunk to pick her two kids up from elementary school, according to Utah sheriff's officials.
In a news release, the Utah County Sheriff's Office noted that school officials refused to let the children, ages 10 and 7, in the 32-year-old woman's vehicle. They called the authorities instead at 3:15 p.m. on Friday, August 19, according to The Sacramento Bee.
The release said that the mother became angry upon learning of the school's decision. She went to sit in her car near the school playground. When deputies arrived at the school, the two children ran away from the school officials. They jumped a fence and got in their mother's car.
The drunk mom drove away with her two kids
With her two children inside the vehicle, the mother decided to drive away with them. Deputies later found the drunk mom at a gas station in Vineyard, where she told them she had asked a stranger to take one of her kids back to school. The person did so and returned the child to his school.
Sheriff's officials said that the mother of the two boys failed sobriety tests and was later arrested. The mom now faces several charges, including driving while under the influence (DUI), possession of drug paraphernalia, driving on a revoked driver's license, no insurance, and a speeding warrant.
Sheriff's officials commended the school staff for noticing the mother's condition and trying to prevent her from driving with her kids in the vehicle. Her two sons were later released to a family member.
According to the sheriff's office, it is not releasing the woman's name to protect the two children's identities. Vineyard is a city with a population of about 12,500. It is located between Provo and Salt Lake City.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29 people die daily in the United States in motor vehicle crashes involving an alcohol-impaired driver. That means one death is recorded every 50 minutes in the U.S. because of drunk driving. The federal agency said that the annual cost of alcohol-related crashes in the country totals more than $44 billion.
Drunk driving is a major problem in the U.S.
Drunk driving is a major problem in the country right now. A total of 10,497 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes back in 2016. That accounted for 28 percent of all traffic-related deaths in the United States that year.
A drunk driving incident recently happened on a series of New Jersey blocks. The carnage occurred on Saturday, August 20, when a drunk driver damaged approximately 16 vehicles and injured six people as he wreaked havoc down a long stretch of Paterson.
The suspect's black pickup truck was seen slamming into parked vehicles from Straight Street to Madison Avenue. He also struck six pedestrians as he left a wake of destruction, according to NBC New York.
