Teenage girl 'averts tragedy' by calling 911... on her mom
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A teenage girl “averted a tragedy” by calling 911 from inside an out-of-control car to say her mother was driving drunk, New York State Police said.
Jamie S. Hicks, 48, of Islip, New York, was charged with felony driving under the influence and was released on bail, authorities said. She is due back in court on August 17.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/07/28/jamiehicks_web.jpg caption="Photo Courtesy New York State Police" width=292 height=320]
According to investigators, Hicks was behind the wheel of a 1995 Buick LeSabre Sunday evening with her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son as passengers.
The car was on Interstate 84 near the Connecticut border when the daughter called 911 to say her mother was “weaving in and out of traffic,” authorities said.
“Her initial call was that she was fearful the mother was driving erratically and speaking incoherently,” Capt. Robert Nuzzo of the New York State Police told CNN.
In a subsequent call to 911, “all the operator hears is an argument in the vehicle,” Nuzzo added. The car was stopped on the side of the road when troopers arrived to investigate, Nuzzo said.
The daughter told the officers that her mother was intoxicated, police said. Hicks failed field sobriety tests and was taken back to the station for processing, according to police, who said her blood alcohol level was .18%, more than twice the legal limit.
The audio recording and transcript of the girl’s 911 call will not be released, said Adam Stiebeling, Deputy Commissioner of the Putnam County Office of Emergency Services.
Nuzzo praised the teen for her quick thinking. “She was a terrified young girl who made a conscientious decision to get her mother arrested,” he said, “but it averted a tragedy.”
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Filed under: Crime & Punishment • Gabe Falcon |
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Good for this girl – she probably averted an accident in which she and her sibling might have been killed plus other innocent people in other cars. The bravery she showed in calling 911 on her own mother had to have been hard – who wants to call the authorities on their own mother? But, the teen did the right thing and should be commended for it. I hope her mother gets help for her problem and doesn't lash out at the girl for the time spent under arrest. Her daughter actually did her a favor although the mother may not see it that way.
Good for this girl! She did the right thing & possibly saved many lives, not just now, but in the future too.
In pre-911 call days, I could not call the police when my dad drove drunk with me and my friends in the car. My brother and I were also stuck in the car on dark, cold nights waiting for him while he was inside a bar getting drunk. I still live with feelings of HUMILIATION from those days.We were lucky to not be killed when he was behind the wheel. In those days, people made excuses for him because he "worked hard" to support the family.