Winnipeg mother charged with driving impaired while baby, toddlers in vehicle

A Winnipeg mother has been charged with impaired driving after police say she had more than double the legal limit of alcohol in her system while driving with a baby and two toddlers in the vehicle.

Police pulled the 21-year-old over Sunday around 10:15 p.m. after getting two 911 calls about a vehicle driving erratically and nearly side-swiping other vehicles on Highway 8 near Highway 27 in the rural municipality of West St. Paul just north of Winnipeg, RCMP said in a news release on Monday.

Mounties said they patrolled the area and were able to find the vehicle when an officer saw it driving erratically and pulled the woman over on McPhillips Road.

The woman driving and her passenger, another 21-year-old Winnipeg woman, were heavily intoxicated and open liquor was found in the vehicle, the release said.

Police said there was a six-month-old boy, a two-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl in the backseat. While the baby was properly restrained, the older boy was in an unsafe booster seat and the girl wasn't wearing a seatbelt at all, the release said.

RCMP spokesperson Tara Seel said in an email two of the children belonged to the driver, while the other belonged to the passenger.

Officers contacted representatives to bring the kids to a safe environment, the RCMP release said. Seel would not provide further details on who those representatives were or disclose further information to protect the children's privacy.

Mounties said their investigation determined the mother had a blood alcohol concentration of nearly two and a half times the legal limit.

The woman was charged under the Criminal Code of Canada with impaired operation of a motor vehicle.

She was also charged under the Highway Traffic Act for driving without an able supervising driver while holding a class 1A to 5A licence, unlawfully transporting liquor in a motor vehicle and two counts of not using a proper child restraining device, the release said.

RCMP said the woman was released and will not be identified to protect the identity of the children involved.