A Burlington woman is facing felony and misdemeanor charges after allegedly driving drunk with three children in the car in February.
While the incident happened in February, the charges were not filed in Racine County Circuit Court until the end of May, and released last week.
Jennifer Andrews, 36, is charged with three counts of drunk driving and a prohibited alcohol content, all with a minor child in the vehicle. All six charges are misdemeanors, but she is also facing three felony charges of recklessly endangering safety.
Her initial court appearance was set for today at 1:30 p.m.
According to the criminal complaint, a City of Burlington police officer was on patrol just before 11 p.m. on Feb. 27. Dispatch received a call that there was a drunken driver about to leave in a blue van with three young children inside. The caller allegedly described a white female in her 30s, wearing a red shirt with a white coat.
The officer responded and allegedly saw the van exiting a parking lot onto Kane Street, which caused another vehicle to hit the brakes to avoid hitting the van. The van allegedly did not have its lights on. The driver matched the description given police.
Following the driver, the officer allegedly saw the driver fail to come to a complete stop at an intersection, before pulling over the vehicle.
The driver was allegedly distracted, rummaging through her vehicle before looking up and seeing the officer. When he talked to the woman, she seemed confused, and asked the officer “didn’t it change?” when he explained her driving violations. When asked to explain herself, the woman allegedly mumbled something the officer didn’t understand.
She handed the officer the paperwork for the vehicle, but couldn’t explain why, and the officer allegedly smelled a strong odor of intoxicants. He also observed bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and confusion – and three children in the rear of the van.
Andrews was asked to step out of the vehicle, and allegedly stated she’d had one glass of wine when asked. When the officer asked again how much wine she’d drank, she did not answer. Andrews allegedly failed all three sobriety tests given her.
A preliminary portable breath test gave a reading of .35 blood-alcohol content, and two other intoximeter tests given registered .32 BAC. That is three times the legal limit in Wisconsin.
The officer also allegedly saw a Styrofoam cup with a yellowish liquid, which smelled strongly of alcohol.
The three children in the van were ages 7, 5 and 5.
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