DETROIT – On the way back to the station after responding to a house fire on Tuesday night Detroit Fire Department crews witnessed a woman weaving in and out of traffic.
“She has a child in the vehicle,” a firefighter told dispatch.
The firefighters suspected the woman was drunk. They reported to dispatch that the woman was reckless driving in a white Mazda with a child in the vehicle in the area of Fenkell and Greenfield.
Sources within the fire department said firefighters should not pursue or follow vehicles in a fire engine. Ladder 25 said they were following with the engine’s lights on and dispatch told them to stop.
“Ladder 25 you are advised not to do that in the event that you get into an accident. We will give police the information,” dispatch said.
The concern was that if the woman driving in the vehicle tried to flee it could cause a crash.
“OK, she did make contact with them on the side of the road. I asked if she had been drinking and she did say yes,” a firefighter told dispatch.
The fire crews stopped following and went back to the station.
Detroit police were still looking through information from that night to determine of police ever caught up with that suspected drunken driver.