This is a story that cannot possibly ever have a happy ending.
An Albuquerque woman was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of driving drunk with her three children in the car— just one day after being released from jail on a previous DWI charge, according to police and jail records.
Miranda Manning, 27, faces three felony counts of child abuse for her arrest on Saturday, about 10:30 p.m. in the 100 block of General Bradley NE, according to a criminal complaint.
She registered a breath-alcohol concentration of 0.13 percent, the complaint states. Her children are 6, 4 and 1.
Unfortunately, if DWI conviction patterns hold true, she’ll have about 25 more chances to endanger herself, her children, and the rest of us.
This is very sad…
A brief conversation I overheard in a Safeway parking lot in Globe, Arizona.
Little girl with her smaller sister, to an Anheuser Busch delivery driver: “Do you drink and drive?”
Delivery driver: “No I don’t.”
Little girls: “Our mommy does.”
More details:
She was so drunk she gave the police her insurance card thinking it was her driver’s license.
I want to know why she can’t be charged with both. This is exactly how/why so many habitual DWI offenders never have the necessary convictions to ever get to a felony DWI charge even though they’ve had many DWI incidents. While I agree that the penalty for child abuse should be stiffer, the DWI then just kind of goes away… until the next time. And you can bet there will be one. I know, I know; it’s a disease and we should deal with this stuff with compassion but, dang it! I’m really sick of innocent people being killed and/or put into harms way by people who chose (some say it’s not a choice to which I say bullshit and, believe me, I know and have lived with many an alcoholic) to use drugs and alcohol and get behind the wheel of a vehicle.
There are an awful lot of bottom-barreller’s out there… barrelling down the road… drunk… until they finally get caught. And then what? They go to jail? Maybe. They get help for their alcoholism/drug addiction? Maybe. Do they continue to drink and drive even though they are prohibited, have no license, don’t own/have a car? Lots of times; yes.
This makes me just nuts.
Thanks for letting me rant.
N.
A good rant is always welcome.
They can charge her with DWI and may still according to the paper. However, I’m thinking three child abuse felony count convictions and she won’t be driving for a long time.
I have to say it sounds like overkill to me. A DUI plus a driving while suspended, plus a violation of condition of bond release, and a civil call to social services (likely to result in a treatment plan necessary to keep the kids and supervision for an extended period of time, but not an immediate incarceration and separation from young children — the youngest is probably barely weened) would have been a far more appropriate balance of punishment and rehabilitation here.
The kids are not going to be better off with mom fighting felony charges and possible spending years in prison. And, 0.13 may be legally drunk, but it is about 3 drinks for a typical woman, and is at the low end of a DUI offense — when you are talking 0.2 or more, you are talking seriously bat shit drunk, this isn’t that kind of case.
Whether this woman’s children are better off or worse off with her in prison is debatable.
What’s not debatable is that my kids (and everyone else’s) are a hell of a lot better off with her behind bars instead of behind the wheel.
ohwilleke, she was one day out on her previous dwi and has two previous dwi convictions (which isn’t in the excerpt above).
She’s vehicular homicide in waiting.