Police in North Vancouver arrested two drunk adults and called in the Ministry of Children and Family Development after the pair was discovered in a car with a three-year-old child Thursday night.
An RCMP traffic officer noticed the adult driver and passenger inside a parked car drinking alcohol in the 100 block of West 3rd Street about 10:30 p.m. Thursday night.
Both the 43-year-old female passenger — the mother of the child — and the 39-year-old male driver, both from Victoria, were highly intoxicated, said Corp. Richard DeJong, spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP.
DeJong said the keys to the car were in the ignition.
Even more alarming, he said when the officer spotted the pair, the three-year-old had managed to get out of the car and had been wandering around on the nearby sidewalk, unsupervised.
The driver — who police determined had “care and control” of the vehicle — failed a roadside Breathalyzer test and was issued an immediate 90-day driving ban. The car was also impounded.
Police determined neither of the adults was sober enough to care for the three-year-old, and called provincial authorities to take custody of the child.
“Both adults were arrested for being drunk in a public place and lodged in police cells until sober”, said De Jong. They have since been released.
