Driver Arrested For Texting With Baby In Lap

TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — Police say they've arrested a Hawthorne woman who was driving on a freeway while texting and holding her baby daughter in her lap.

The Los Angeles Daily News  says 29-year-old Shawndeeia Joann Bowen was arrested at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday after a motorist on Interstate 405 saw her and called police.

Police say Bowen wasn't wearing a seatbelt while holding her 1-year-old on her lap, and neither was her four-year-old daughter. Her two-year-old son was in an unsecured car seat.

The woman's three children were taken into protective custody.

Bowen was already on five years of probation for a child abuse charge she pleaded no contest to in 2010 and was driving on a suspended license.

Bowen was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment. Bail was set at $131,000.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.