Mother Charged with DUI after Injuring Daughter

June 16, 2009

A Chicago woman has been charged with reckless driving and aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, among other offenses. She crashed her SUV when she was allegedly reaching for a whiskey bottle on the city’s South Side.

The woman’s 9-year-old daughter was sitting in the passenger seat when the accident occurred. During the crash, the girl’s head hit the windshield of the car and she had to be taken to the hospital, along with her mother to be treated for injuries. The girl was listed in serious to critical condition at the time of the accident, but she has recently been stabilized.

Officials say that testing showed that the woman’s blood-alcohol content levels were well above the legal limit. When her alcohol bottle fell on the floor of the car, she reached down to grab it and crashed the vehicle into a viaduct near East 83rd Street and South Jeffery Boulevard.