Jennifer Karkosky: Mom Busted On DUI Charge With 8 Kids In Car — Dad Of 3 Of The Kids Forgives Her

Jennifer Karkosky is a 26-year-old mom from Anderson, Indiana who was arrested on Saturday after a minor car accident as she drove home from an afternoon of swimming — with eight children in her SUV. But now the father of three of those kids is calling for Karkosky to be forgiven, even though, according to the charges against her, she was drunk when she ran her GMC Jimmy off the road.

The incident took place sometime before 8 p.m. on September 6. Jennifer Karkosky had two of her own kids in the car, plus three whom she had been in the process of attempting to adopt.

Joshua Dillard was the father of the other three kids, according to a report on WRTV in Indianapolis. Dillard said that his family counts Karkosky as a close friend.

The youngest child in the vehicle was 3-years-old. The oldest was 12. No injuries to the children were reported.

According to what the mom told Madison County Sheriff’s deputies, as reported by WTTV News, she was simply trying to turn her vehicle around when she accidentally backed the truck off the side of the road, apparently into a ditch.

The vehicle slid backward and ended up stuck, with its front wheels sticking into the air at a 45-degree angle.

But when the deputies showed up, the reported smelling alcohol on her breath. Karkosky admitted consuming three beers during the day, according to The Herald-Bulletin newspaper.

The deputies asked her to submit to a breathalyzer test, and the machine registered a blood-alcohol content level of 0.16 — twice the legal maximum. According to the charges, Karkosky was also driving with a suspended driver’s license, though no information on the cause of the suspension was made public.

But even though driving intoxicated with a kid in the car — not to mention with eight kids — seems like a terrifying and reckless offense, Dillard says that he is withholding judgment, saying that Karksoky is a family friend and a military veteran.

“We hate what happened, but we don’t hate her,” Dillard told WRTV. “She made a wrong decision and she is immensely sorry for that. Her first feelings were toward the kids and made sure that the kids were fine.”

The three children that Karkosky was in the process of adopting were placed instead in care of the state’s Department of Child Services. Her own two children were placed in the custody of her family members.

Jennifer Karkosky, in addition to the felony charge of driving under the influence with minors in the car, was also slapped with eight counts of felony child neglect. She was released from jail on $5,000 bind on Sunday.

[Images: Madison County Sheriff, WRTV-TV Screen Grab]