Oct 1, 2009 11:02 pm US/Eastern
BSO: Mom Of Wandering Kids Found Drunk In Her Car
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
A woman found two toddlers wandering across a busy Broward county street, and a short time later, police arrested their mom for DUI. She had allegedly passed out in the car in her Cooper City driveway and the kids were found two miles away.
According to police, Brenda Duclos was driving drunk with her two kids in the backseat Monday evening. When she pulled into the driveway of her Cooper City home, she passed out behind the wheel with the 3-year-old and 4-year-old still inside the car.
Police say, after several hours, the children got out of the car and started walking. They were found two miles from home trying to cross busy Palm Avenue.
Susie Grace found the two young children ready to cross a busy street, while police say the children's mother was miles away, passed out in her car drunk.
"The cars are whizzing by them," Grace told
CBS4's Joan Murray, describing what she saw as she drove home Wednesday afternoon -- a 4-year-old girl clutching the hand of her 3-year-old brother trying to cross. "I ran across the road and the kids started to run to the sidewalk and I said, 'It's okay. It's okay. I'm your friend. Let's sit down. We sat down criss-cross, applesauce on the sidewalk and I asked them what their names were and where they lived and they didn't seem to like, 'I don't know' and 'Where's mommy?' "
Friends and neighbors describe her as a caring mother.
"They go all out for their kids. They're good parents. It's very surprising," one neighbor said.
Duclos appeared in bond court Thursday morning on charges of driving under the influence and child neglect. There were some harsh words from Judge John Hurley.
"Your children were found two miles away from you passed out in the driveway, and if that is not a danger to your children then I don't know what is ma'am, short of having a loaded gun with them, I don't know what's any more dangerous," said Judge Hurley.
She is being held at the Broward County Jail on $5,000 bond.
The children were not hurt.
CBS4's Joan Murray contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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