Witnesses at an Oklahoma City fast food restaurant stepped in to prevent an apparently inebriated woman from driving drunk with a toddler in her car.
At least two people called 9-1-1 Friday to report a woman stumbling in the parking lot of a McDonald's on North May Avenue, trying to get to her vehicle.Witnesses say the woman had a small child with her, and that she tried to enter two different vehicles before finding her own.
One witness approached the woman and engaged her while police were en route. When police arrived, they found Cara Blansett, 33, of Wilburton, sitting inthe front seat of her vehicle with the engine running. Her 3-year-old daughter was seated in the back of the car.
Police say that when they attempted to speak to the woman, she told them that she had been at a baby shower in Edmond earlier in the day. However, shedid not remember how she got to the McDonald's restaurant and did not know what time it was. Police say that she was slurring heavily and she was unableto walk without assistance.
The child was released into the custody of a family member, and police arrested Blansett on complaints of being in actual physical control of a vehiclewhile impaired (APC) and child endangerment.
Actual Physical Control, or APC, is an impaired driving charge which denies a person the ability to defend against a DUI charge by arguing that he or shewas not actually driving. For example, without an APC law, it might be possible for an impaired person to pass out behind the wheel of a car at a stoplight, but then argue in court that he or she is not guilty of DUI because he or she was not driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.In this case, the defendant is not accused of driving while impaired, because the witnesses allegedly prevented her from driving. However, since shewas allegedly under the influence of alcohol while having actual physical control of her vehicle (seated in the driver's seat, keys in the ignition,engine running), police were able to arrest her on an APC complaint.
The penalties for APC are the same as those associated with DUI.
The child endangerment charge comes from the woman's alleged attempt to drive with her child in the vehicle. Child endangerment is defined in 21 O.S. 852.1, and it includes four specific offenses:
1. Knowingly permitting the physical or sexual abuse of a child;
2. Knowingly permitting a child to be present at a location where a controlled dangerous substance is being manufactured or attempted to be manufactured
3. 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 impairedby or is under the influence of alcohol or another intoxicating substance; or
4. Being a driver, operator, or person in physical control of a vehicle while impaired and while transporting or having a child or children in the vehicle.
Knowingly permitting child abuse or child sexual abuse will most frequently be charged as the more serious offense of enabling child abuse, which is punishableby a maximum of life in prison. Having drugs in the presence of a child or allowing a child to be present where drugs are manufactured will often becharged as child neglect, also a more serious offense than child endangerment.
The penalties for child endangerment, which is most frequently applied to cases involving DUI with children, is a felony punishable by a maximum of fouryears in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
