OCALA, Fla. – A 28-year-old woman was arrested on child neglect and DUI charges after, Marion County officials say, she crashed into a tree while her child was on her lap.
Erica Peluso was arrested Saturday in the 1000 block of Southwest 27th Avenue in Ocala.
According to Ocala police, Peluso was driving a Chevrolet Malibu early Saturday morning when she crashed into a tree in the median of Southwest 10th Street.
A police officer said he arrived to find Peluso removing her six year old son from the back seat of the car, while a witness to the crash was holding another child, who is 2.
The witness said he saw the two-year-old on Peluso's lap at the time of the crash, according to police, who added that the child needed three staples to close a laceration on this head.
Police said Peluso claimed she was a nurse and did not want her children to receive medical attention.
After smelling alcohol in the car, police administered field sobriety tests to Peluso, saying she failed them, according to a police report.
She was arrested and taken to the Marion County Jail, where, police said, she was found to have a blood alcohol content of .260, more than three times the legal limit in Florida. The legal limit in Florida is 0.08.
Peluso posted the $4,500 bond. The Department of Children and Families says Peluso she didn't have any other factors like previous incidents with them, her children have been returned to her