Nov 10, 2009 6:20 am US/Eastern
Investigation: The Drunk Driving Moms Epidemic
CBS 2 HD Gets Firsthand Look At Westchester County Police's New Approach To Putting An End To Scary Trend
VALHALLA, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Photograph of Diane and Daniel Schuler
CBS
For the past five years the number of women being arrested for drunk driving has been on the steady increase. And all too often, children are on board, unfortunately, being injured or even losing their lives.
Now one local police agency is fighting back -- designing better ways to catch potentially dangerous moms.
Diane Shuler.
Carmen Huertas.
Ann Marie Ciarcia.
All mothers, all charged with drunk driving. All drove children, some died.
"They are basically a hostage in that car," said Denna Cohen of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
It's a disturbing new trend: Mothers, who instead of protecting their children are putting them in grave danger.
CBS 2 HD recently acquired some disturbing audio of an 8-year-old boy calling 9-1-1 about his mother's driving:
Dispatcher: "What's going on with your mom?"
Boy: "She went to this restaurant and had some drinks. She's going too fast ..."
Police got to her before she could harm her two children, charging her with drunk driving and endangering her children.
"It's a mess. It's usually a shock to us to see, even thought it's becoming more typical, to find that there are actually children in the car," Westchester County Police Officer James Griff told CBS 2 HD.
And officers like Griff are seeing it all the time.
For five years running, New York State and Westchester county have both experienced a rapid rise in the numbers of women being arrested for drunk driving. Across the country over the past decade the number of women arrested has spiked 29 percent.
In July, Schuler packed her car with children then drove drunk the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, killing seven, including her own daughter, and her three nieces.
Then, three months later, Huertas loaded seven children into her station wagon, and reportedly barreled up the West Side Highway asking, "Who thinks we're going to crash?" An 11-year-old died.
Ciarcia went to prison after driving drunk and killing her daughter's 16-year-old friend. She admitted to bar hopping in Manhattan with both girls before crashing on the Saw Mill Parkway.
Now Westchester is fighting back, trying to prevent any more before devastating accidents.
Officers throughout Westchester County have now stepped up patrols in the daytime, prime time hours for parents hours who may be intoxicated and driving kids.
"They're having a couple of cocktails during the day and then they're out driving, whether it's to pick the kids up from school. Maybe it's become almost the social norm," Westchester County Police Officer Stu Smith said.
New cadets are also getting extra classroom time on how to spot an inebriated parent behind the wheel to protect children.
"If there's a child in a car seat we have to put the car seat in the police car and obviously transport them separately from the parent who's being arrested," Officer Griff said.
And unlike the more common video-only DWI education, cadets get real world so-called "wet" training -- with volunteers who drink to exceed the legal alcohol limit of .08.
"You don't get the same feel as you do when you're standing in front of a real person administering a sobriety test like they're trained to do," Officer Smith said.
Cadets learn to distinguish involuntary eye movement that happens after consuming multiple drinks, the inability to follow a complex set of commands or even just count while trying to balance.
CBS 2 HD was given an example. A woman counted up from 1,000 and although she wasn't fall-down drunk it was clear she wasn't sober.
"She's a little off. We're definitely a little concerned so we're going to continue our investigation," Officer Lauren Valentino said.
Cohen of MADD honors her daughter Jodi's memory through DWI education.
"My daughter was killed by a four-time repeat drunk driver. It was a woman," Cohen said.
And Cohen said it's up to each one of us to step in and prevent senseless deaths.
"Take the keys, call a cab," she said.
"There is nothing worse than having a child killed."
Currently, driving drunk with children in the car is only a misdemeanor crime in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. But there is a move to make it a felony in New York, punishable by up to 25 years in prison if that child dies.
The new law if passed may be called Leandra's law, after the girl who was killed on the West Side Highway in the car driven by Huertas. Last year, 200 children were killed or injured in New York by drunk drivers.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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