Western Wisconsin Woman Arrested For Operating Under The Influence With 5 Kids In Car
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A western Wisconsin woman was arrested Saturday morning after authorities say she was doing drugs while driving with five children in the car.
The Wisconsin State Patrol first learned of the incident when a father called to request a welfare check on his 12-year-old daughter. The girl was in a car headed to Wisconsin Dells with a friend and the friend's family.
She told her father the adults were "smoking drugs" while heading east on Interstate 94. She sent updates on her location, which her father relayed to the state patrol, and troopers pulled the vehicle over near Hixton, Wisconsin.
Troopers found four other children in the vehicle -- 4-year-old twins, an 11-year-old and an 8-year-old.
The state patrol said the driver, a 31-year-old woman, showed signs of impairment, and a field sobriety test confirmed she was "under the influence of a controlled substance." Troopers also found marijuana and paraphernalia in the car.
WCCO typically doesn't identify suspects until they are formally charged.