Police say woman tried to drive with baby dangling from truck
Grandmother, 62, arrested on felony charges; infant, in safety seat, was unharmed
Santa Fe police say quick-thinking bystanders blocked the path of a truck with a 9-month-old girl dangling outside the rear door while her intoxicated grandmother tried to drive away.
The infant, strapped in her safety seat as it hung outside the moving truck, was not injured. Officers arrested Bertha Boling, 64, on suspicion of third-degree felony charges of aggravated battery and child abuse, as well as petty misdemeanor charges of aggravated drunken driving and reckless driving.
Boling’s blood-alcohol level was 0.22 percent, more than twice the limit for a driver in New Mexico, according to a probable cause statement that police filed in Magistrate Court. She was booked into Santa Fe County jail Tuesday evening, the Fourth of July.
Police gave this account of the incident, which began at the home of Boling’s daughter, near Paseo del Sol and Jaguar Drive:
Boling asked her daughter for a ride home because she was too intoxicated to drive. Boling’s daughter agreed, then placed her little girl in her safety seat in the truck. At that point, Boling and her daughter argued. The daughter decided against giving Boling a ride.
Boling then took the wheel of the truck and began to drive away. Her granddaughter, who was still in the car seat, was dangling on the side of the passenger rear door, police said in their report.
Boling’s daughter screamed for her to stop the truck. Bystanders suddenly became active participants in the family dispute, blocking Boling’s path with their vehicles, police say.
The baby’s mother attempted to hold onto the car seat as the truck was moving. The force dragged her to the ground. Police say she received minor injuries to a knee, hand and her abdomen.
The father of the baby eventually was able to unhook the car seat, aided by the bystanders who had succeeded in stopping the truck.
The elder Boling told paramedics she
had been drinking, according to a police report. Police said Boling handed them a credit card when they asked for her driver’s license.
Boling has been arrested on three occasions since 2014 on suspicion of battery against a household member, but she was never convicted, according to court records. She pleaded guilty last year to a petty misdemeanor for disorderly conduct, the records show.
In 2009, Boling pleaded no contest to a first offense of drunken driving and was sentenced to community service and a year of probation.
Santa Fe County Magistrate Donna Bevacqua-Young on Wednesday set bond for Boling at $5,000. She will have to post 10 percent of that amount to be released from jail.