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Police: Mother Left Kids With Drunk Driver

Officer Saw Child Fall From Car

POSTED: 8:44 am PST November 3, 2009

A woman whose twin 1-year-old children fell from a moving car knew the driver was drunk, police said Tuesday.

According to an arrest report, 19-year-old Vanessa Ramirez admitted leaving the twins and her 2-year-old daughter with 28-year-old Nancy Lopez after a birthday party Sunday night near Bruce Street and Owens Avenue.

“I knew Nancy was drunk and had been drinking a lot at the birthday party they were at,” she is quoted saying in the report. Police said Ramirez, who was also drunk, had instructed Lopez to drive the children home.

A Metro officer pulled over Lopez’s PT Cruiser after he seeing something fall from the car and roll across the street. Earlier, a witness claimed he saw two children fall out when Lopez left the party.

Ten people were in the vehicle: Lopez, her four children, Ramirez’s twins and her 2-year-old daughter, a 19-year-old man and an elderly man identified as a grandfather.

Police said none of the children were in car seats or wearing seat belts.

Three children who were bleeding and crying were rushed to University Medical Center as the officer questioned Lopez.

When asked how many beers she had that night, she responded, “I will admit to three and a half, maybe four,” the officer said, adding that she refused to complete a field sobriety test.

Lopez is also quoted saying, “We were driving around. The door opened up and they fell out. I’m going to jail aren’t I?”

The officer said an opened can of Corona light was found in the PT Cruiser and a bottle of beer also fell from the vehicle and shattered on the pavement.

Lopez is charged with seven counts of child endangerment, drunken driving, driving with a suspended license, driving without her headlights on and having an open container in a vehicle.

One of Ramirez’s twins remains in critical condition at UMC. The other two children did not suffer life-threatening injuries.

Ramirez is also charged with child endangerment

All seven children have been placed in the custody of child care.

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