DUI with Children: What are the Charges?

Impaired driving can get someone in a lot of trouble. A DUI arrest can be costly--bail, court fees, attorney fees, probation fees, costs of substance abusetreatment, high-risk insurance premiums, ignition interlock installation costs and monitoring fees. It adds up quickly. Of course, the biggest riskof DUI is not an arrest or conviction, but the danger an impaired driver poses to himself or herself and to passengers, pedestrians, and occupantsof other vehicles. DUI accidents are more likely to be serious accidents, involving catastrophic injury or fatality.

Because of this risk, anyone who is arrested for DUI while transporting a minor faces additional penalties beyond those associated with the DUI conviction.

In Sand Springs this week, at least two men were arrested for DUI with children in the vehicle.

The first incident occurred on Sunday evening, when Sand Springs police allegedly observed a white Chevy pickup driving erratically. Police stopped thevehicle and determined that the driver, Donald Hugh Perkins, 51, of Okmulgee, was impaired by alcohol or drugs. They found that the man's 5-year-oldgrandson was in the truck with him, and the child was not wearing a seat belt. (Under Oklahoma law, a 5-year-old child should also be properly restrainedin either an appropriate car seat or a booster seat).

Perkins was arrested on complaints of DUI, drug possession, and child endangerment.

Two days later, Sand Springs police pulled over a vehicle after watching it make a left turn during a red light. The driver, identified as Kenneth LeeRowe, 39, allegedly had "red, watery eyes" and detectedthe odor of alcohol inside the vehicle. Police say Rowe admitted to having "one beer" before he left work two hours before, but they report they sawmultiple opened beer cans in the vehicle. When he was asked to step outside the vehicle, Rowe allegedly had difficult standing on his feet and hadto lean on the vehicle for support. Inside the vehicle were Rowe's 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old niece.

Rowe was arrested on complaints of aggravated DUI, transporting an open container, driving without a license, and child endangerment.

Child endangerment is a felony defined in 21 O.S. � 852.1. It encompasses any of the following acts:

• Knowingly permitting physical or sexual abuse of a child;
• Knowingly permitting a child to be present at a location where a controlled dangerous substance is being manufactured or attempted to be manufactured
• Knowingly permitting a child to be present in a vehicle when the person knows or should have known that the operator of the vehicle is under the influenceof alcohol or drugs; or
• Driving (or having actual physical control of) a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and having a child or children in the vehicle
  

Child endangerment is a separate and additional felony charge that carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.