LAKE ORION, Mich. – A 47-year-old Orion Township woman is charged with operating a vehicle while drunk with her 9-year-old son in the back seat.
Lake Orion police say Pamela Kroll was arrested after a 911 caller reported her Chevrolet Equinox was traveling recklessly and erratically April 7 on Perry Street near Atwater.
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Police say Kroll drove the vehicle off the roadway and at one point drove across the sidewalk, into a yard and back onto the roadway and across the center line. She narrowly missed an oncoming car.
The 911 caller followed her vehicle into a parking lot near M-24 and Atwater where police caught up to it. Police say Kroll had her head on the steering wheel when the officer approached. He had to knock on the window to get Kroll's attention, police say. Meanwhile, her 9-year-old son was in the back seat and was not wearing a seat belt.
Kroll failed a sobriety test during which, police say, she needed to use the driver's side door to maintain her balance. She then submitted a breath test which showed a .36 blood alcohol level, well above the legal limit of .08.
Because of her alleged intoxication, she required a medical clearance before police took her to the Oakland County Jail. She was arraigned Tuesday on one count of operating a vehicle while intoxicated with an occupant less than 16 years of age and one count of operating a vehicle with a high blood alcohol level.
"That is enough alcohol consumed to get more than 4 adults arrested for drunk driving," said Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Nash. "It is amazing that no one was injured or killed including her and her child, based on her driving behavior."
Kroll has no previous drunken driving convictions and no criminal arrest record.
The boy's father now has custody.