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Florida Mom Arrested For DUI With Unbuckled 3-Year-Old In Back Seat, Police Say [Dashcam Video]

By Robert Jonathan
Published on: 13:32 PST, Aug 21, 2017

Cops have released dash camera footage of a woman arrested for DUI in West Palm Beach, Florida, allegedly with an unbuckled three-year-old child in the back seat.

In the incident, a tow truck driver called 911 when he spotted the motorist allegedly driving erratically and weaving in an out of lanes. The tow driver later told detectives that he was afraid she might kill someone on the road with her Chevy Malibu.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies responded and pulled her over. Cops say they detected a strong odor of alcohol emanating from the vehicle and that the motorist spoke in a slurred manner. The dashcam footage purports to show her failing field sobriety tests.

“Authorities also made note of an unrestrained 3-year-old child standing in the back seat,” CBS12 of West Palm Beach reported.

The motorist, identified by multiple media outlets as Brandy Lerma, 31, allegedly registered 0.200 and 0.187 on a breathalyzer. The legal limit in Florida, as in most states, is 0.08. She allegedly told cops that she had consumed some prescription drugs as well as “a couple of fireballs,” according to the Palm Beach Post.

Footage also shows the woman in the back seat of the cruiser apparently shouting “I will kill you” at the officer. The police report describes “Lerma’s attitude as vulgar, defiant, combative and uncooperative,” WPLG reported.

Lerma was charged with driving under the influence and child abuse and secured her release from the Palm Beach County Jail on a $3,000 bond. She is due back in court in September. The state Department of Children and Family Services has also launched an investigation into the matter.

As this is a developing story, monitor this space for updates.

Watch the CBS12 News report of about the incident, including the newly released dashcam footage of the arrest.

Elsewhere in Florida in an unrelated matter, a woman was busted in Fort Myers last week after a school resource officer spotted her allegedly snorting a white powdery substance off of her iPhone screen while she was sitting in her car. The incident allegedly happened outside Lexington Middle School in the line of cars with parents waiting to pick up their kids after the daily 4 p.m. dismissal. The school resource officer allegedly observed the woman first chopping up the powder with a credit card from his vantage point at a second-floor window in the school. He went outside and approached her and asked her to accompany him inside the building. After the dismissal process was complete, the officer field tested the powder which turned out to be cocaine, NBC Miami reported. Cops charged the suspect with cocaine possession as well as possession of drug paraphernalia.

[Featured Image by By ChiccoDodiFC/Shutterstock]

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