Child Endangerment for Driving Drunk with Minor in Car

At about 1 am, a Bloomfield Hills police officer pulled over a driver with defective equipment, near Woodward Avenue and Long Lake Road. A defective equipment issue can mean a wide variety of issues, including the state of one’s tires, rear view mirror, exhaust systems, headlamps, rear lamps, and signal lights. In this case it meant that the vehicle had only one working tail light. But as it turns out, a faulty tail light ended up being the least of this driver’s concerns.

The driver, a 33-year-old Detroit resident, had his 12-year-old daughter in the car with him, riding in the back-seat. And he was very intoxicated. According to the story he told the officer, he had gone to the bar and brought his daughter with him, and was now on his way back home. Whether she actually came inside with him or simply remained in the car while he drank, wasn’t clear.

The officer attempted to perform a road side sobriety test, but the man struggled with items like reciting the alphabet. And when it came to counting backwards from 100 to 82, he simply couldn’t. And when the officer asked him why he couldn’t, he said that it was just too hard.

Once tested, the driver’s BAC was discovered to be 0.205, which puts him nearly three times above the legal limit for Michigan. And as if the issue of “super drunk” driving with a minor in the car isn’t a big enough deal, this man is likely to face other charges as well. Officers found a loaded handgun and a taser in the vehicle.

According to the Bloomfield Hills Police Department, warrants are being sought against the driver for several charges. These include operating while intoxicated, child endangerment, and carrying a concealed weapon while intoxicated. Under Michigan law, carrying a gun with a BAC of .10 or more is a 93 day misdemeanor, with fines of up to $100 and a permanent loss of the state-issued CPL.

The driver, whose name has not been been released pending charges, was convicted of drunk driving before, in 2005, in Harper Woods. However, because Michigan law requires that the second DUI happen within seven years of the first one in order to be charged as a “second offense” this will be charged as if it were a first offense DUI.

Child Protective Services were contacted, and they supervised the release of the man’s daughter to her mother’s custody.