Mom Has BAC of .151 With Child Unbuckled in Back Seat

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Drinking and driving is dangerous enough, but as a Seattle auto accident lawyer working at a Bellevue personal injury law firm, I just can’t understand how a parent could justify getting behind the wheel intoxicated with their children in the car. As a parent I could not even imagine being selfish enough to put my kids in that kind of danger. When you drink and drive you are not only putting your life in danger and endangering the people on the road with you but you are basically telling every person in your life that they don’t mean enough to you to not drink and drive.

37-year-old Krystal Smith of Gainesville, FL was arrested Saturday night after she almost ran into two police cars before finally being stopped driving into oncoming traffic. Smith was headed south when she suddenly veered off the road and came very close to hitting a Gainesville Police patrol car that was parked in the median. She then crossed the center line and began driving south in the northbound lanes and almost crashed head-on into another patrol car before they were finally able to pull her over. When the officers questioned her, Smith told them that she believed that she had been driving correctly and wasn’t sure why she had been pulled over. Smith’s blood alcohol content registered at .151, almost twice the legal limit, but that isn’t the most disturbing part; her 9-year-old daughter had been sleeping in the back of the car and was not wearing a seatbelt.

It sickens me to even think about the personal injuries that little girl could have suffered had her mom gotten into an auto accident. Driving drunk and hurting yourself is one thing, but when others are involved, especially your own children that is just too much. Smith now faces charges of DUI, reckless driving and child neglect, but to me that just isn’t enough. Krystal Smith is lucky that she didn’t kill her child or cause the wrongful death of another innocent person that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can’t say this enough; if you are going to drink please make sure that you have a sober ride in place before you start drinking.

Click here for tips on how to spot a drunk driver.