Nanaimo woman found passed out in car with infant charged

Nanaimo RCMP is investigating an incident of suspected impaired driving in which the driver of a vehicle was found passed out in the driver’s seat, along with her infant strapped in to its baby seat.

Shockingly, the vehicle was in park but the engine was still running. A dog was also located inside the vehicle. The vehicle was located at approximately 10:30 am on Thursday November 17 in the parking lot of the North Town Centre Mall.

Officers were first alerted to the vehicle, a Ford f-150 pickup, after a report was received from Oceanside RCMP that the same vehicle had been involved in a hit and run collision earlier that same day. When officers found the vehicle, they tried to repeatedly rouse the woman by yelling and knocking on the windows but were unable to. The officer called for EHS and Fire to respond and assist with removing the woman safely from her vehicle.

With the assistance of EHS and Fire crews, the 35-year-old woman was eventually awoken and helped from the vehicle. To ensure there were no medical issues at play, she, along with her child, were transported to the Nanaimo hospital for a medical assessment. While being transported by EHS, officers detected a strong odor of liquor on her breath which provided grounds to pursue an impaired driving charge.

At the hospital, both mother and child were medically examined. The child was turned over to its father and the woman was transported to the Nanaimo detachment. While at the detachment, two samples of her breath were obtained; both being 2.5 times over the legal limit. The driver was later issued with a 90-day Roadside Prohibition and her vehicle was impounded for 24 hours.

She was then served with an Appearance Notice to appear in Nanaimo Provincial Court on charges of Drive While Impaired and Drive While Over the Legal Limit of .08, both being criminal charges.