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Mother with toddler in vehicle facing impaired driving charge

A mother driving with her toddler in the backseat was allegedly drunk when she smashed into three parked vehicles on Saturday.

A mother driving with her toddler in the backseat was allegedly drunk when she smashed into three parked vehicles on Saturday.

Sgt. Rick Dellebuur confirmed a 29-year-old Penticton woman driving a white Toyota SUV smashed into the three vehicles in the 200 block of Kinney Avenue with a 20-month old child in the backseat around 9:20 p.m. on Saturday.

Dellebuur said the child was checked out by ambulance services and deemed uninjured in the accident and taken home by a friend of the mother. RCMP took the driver back to the detachment to provide a breath sample, and an impaired driving charge is being recommended.

“It doesn’t surprise me that people are still doing this. We just hope the message is getting out there,” said Dellebuur. “Certainly they say the worst place to be is in the passenger seat of a drunk driver, but at that age your parents just put you in there and you don’t have a choice.

“People need to understand the consequences of this high-risk behaviour. Not only could her child have been injured, but also anybody in a vehicle on that road or just walking down the street.”