A Florida woman, allegedly driving drunk on Mother’s Day, crashed her car with her two children inside, before her twelve-year-old son carried his two-year-old baby sister in his arms and desperately tried to flag police officers for help, authorities said. The mother was arrested on DUI charges, with the judge denying any contact with the children, including supervised visitation.
Iris Damaris Ruiz, 33, crashed her gray Nissan on Sunday, Mother’s Day evening, just after 7 p.m. on Miami’s Eastbound Connector Road, west of I-95, reports NBCmiami. The crash caused “heavy front-end damage” to the vehicle, which then caught fire.
The arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime reveals that a Florida Highway Patrol trooper was near the crash scene and noticed the boy “waving his arms” to attract the trooper’s attention. When he got closer, he noticed the boy carrying his toddler sister in his arms. The Florida trooper noticed that the boy had suffered minor injuries before he turned his attention to his mother.
The trooper said that Ruiz was “refusing to get out” when a male witness was trying to help her out of the scene. She finally got out of the car when the trooper told her that she needed to exit as the vehicle’s engine had caught fire. The officer then extinguished it with a fire extinguisher before checking on the family members to see if they sustained any injuries.
The trooper revealed that he did not notice any injuries that needed immediate medical attention. But, he wrote that he smelled alcohol on Ruiz, whose eyes were “bloodshot” and “watery” and whose speech was allegedly slurred.
The trooper stated that Ruiz allegedly showed many signs of intoxication during the field sobriety test, including beginning to count from “1000-2” and repeating numbers “instead of counting in sequential order.” Ruiz’s blood alcohol content (BAC) was 0.216, allegedly — nearly 3x Florida’s legal limit of 0.08.
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Ruiz was arrested and sent to the Turner Guilford Correctional Center. Both children are reportedly with their grandmother.
As Law&Crime reports, authorities charged with DUI, two counts of DUI with property damage and/or injuries, and two counts of child abuse
On Monday, May 11, Ruiz appeared in court for a bond hearing before Judge Mindy Glazer, who found probable cause for child neglect and ordered Ruiz to comply with dependency court before any custody consideration.
Judge Glazer denied all child contact for Ruiz — including supervised visits — and released her to Pretrial Services, the publication reports.
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When Ruiz’s public defender asked about supervised visits, Glazer responded, “Absolutely not. Let her get clean, and let the dependency judge decide if she’s in a state to be a good mom for her children. It’s a shame and unfortunate.”
“Her Mother’s Day was spent driving drunk with two children in the car, which she could have killed,” Glazer said.
At the end of the hearing, Glazer turned to Ruiz and further added, “So you need to comply with whatever dependency court says if you want to see your children. Number one, stop drinking alcohol.”
“Otherwise, you’re going to have to choose: is it going to be the booze or your kids? That’s what the dependency judge is going to tell you. You’ll do fine. You’ll get through this. Just try and get some counseling,” Nbcmiami reported. Ruiz’s next hearing is scheduled for July 9.
