CHESTER, S.C. — A woman is charged with driving drunk with four children in her car and then crashing into a tree in Chester County, troopers said.
The crash happened around 11 p.m. Saturday on Highway 97 near Gilchrist Road, west of Chester.
Authorities said two of the children were taken to a hospital in Chester and later released. The other two children went to Prisma Health in Columbia.
Troopers said Alexandria McCoy was driving an SUV with four children inside -- ages 1-10 -- when she lost control, drove off the roadway, hit an embankment and then slammed into two trees several yards apart.
Officials said they found beer cans on the floor of the vehicle and a bottle of vodka on the driver’s seat. They did not say what McCoy’s blood alcohol level was or her relationship to all four children.
Troopers said the 1-year-old has serious injuries.
Neighbors told Channel 9 they can’t understand how this could happen.
“That is ridiculous, you ought to know better than that,” one neighbor told Channel 9′s South Carolina bureau reporter Greg Suskin. “There’s no sense in getting behind the wheel. You can call someone or stay where you’re at. There’s no sense in getting behind the wheel when you’re drinking, especially with kids.”
McCoy was also taken to the hospital, but was later released and arrested. She has been charged with felony DUI with great bodily injury and child endangerment.
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