A Chesterton resident is facing a possible charge of operating while intoxicated after Chesterton Police said that she registered a blood alcohol content of more than four times the legal limit when she was stopped on Saturday with children in her vehicle.

According to police, at 7:32 p.m. a 37-year-old woman with two children in the back seat, both under the age of 10, was stopped in the area of Wabash Ave. and Locust Street after an officer observed her “driving erratically by going left of the center line, driving into the lawns of homes lining the street, and also coming close to striking a NIPSCO work crew trimming tree limbs on a lift.”

Police said that the woman showed signs of intoxication, failed several field sobriety tests, and subsequently registered a blood alcohol content of .348 percent on a blood test conducted at the Franciscan Alliance 24-hour ER department on Indian Boundary Road.

“Due to the high level of intoxication”—due also to statements made to the attending physician “about suicidal thoughts and being off of her depression medication”—the woman was admitted to hospital, police said.

The CPD requested arrest warrants for the woman charging her with OWI-prior conviction within five years and OWI-chidren under 18 in the vehicle, both Class D felonies punishable by a term of six months to three years.

The children were released to the custody of a family member and the Indiana Department of Family and Children was advised of the incident, police said.

Posted 7/2/2012