Mills Woman Arrested for DUI With Child Endangerment
A Mills woman was arrested late Friday after allegedly driving while under the influence of controlled substances with a child inside the vehicle and nearly hitting a police officer's patrol car.
Miryam E. Echeagary, 36, was booked into jail on recommended charges of driving under the influence with child endangerment and driving while her license is suspended.
Court papers say a Casper police officer was in her vehicle, patrolling the area of West F and North Poplar streets at about 11:12 p.m. Friday. While stopped at the intersection's traffic signal, the officer saw a red passenger vehicle turn eastbound onto F Street from North Poplar, almost colliding with the officer's vehicle.
The officer conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle near the Showboat Motel. The driver, Echeagaray, had a seven- or eight-year-old child in the vehicle as well.
Echeagaray, who police say had "poor manual dexterity" and slurred speech, said she was babysitting the child and was taking the child to his own house, where the child would be more comfortable.
Echeagaray denied having consumed any alcohol, and the officer did not smell any alcohol on her breath. Echeagaray did say she had taken her "night meds" and named at least two controlled substances and the medical conditions for which she used them, though that information was not released by police.
The officer noted that Echeagaray's license was suspended out of Colorado for being a "non-resident violator." Echeagaray told the officer that her medication made her "sleepy."
After conducting field sobriety tests, the officer did not believe that alcohol was a factor in Echeagaray's behavior. A portable breath test showed there was no alcohol in Echeagaray's blood.
However, Eacheagary performed poorly on multiple sobriety tests.
The officer came to the conclusion that Echeagaray was too impaired to safely operate a motor vehicle, and placed Echeagaray under arrest.
Eacheagaray allegedly told police she had smoked marijuana the previous day, and went on to admit that she had gone to Colorado because her husband had recently left her and she wanted to "blow off steam."
Echeagaray reportedly said she had smoked marijuana joints that contained "angel dust" -- slang for phencyclidine, or PCP. She also admitted to having used cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms the prior day, saying she still felt "funny" from the drugs.
Echeagaray allegedly said she had wanted to "party like a rockstar." She was arrested and taken to jail.