A mother in San Antonio, Texas is in hot water after sharing a clip online of her driving with her children. The clip appears to show the woman and a passenger drinking alcohol, while her children are not properly secured in seats. The video has gained attention thanks to a concerned mom who alerted Child Protective Services (CPS). The anonymous tipster, who News 4 San Antonio refers to as Jane, first viewed the clip of the mom drinking and driving with more than one child in the car. She reported the video immediately out of concern for the children’s safety.
Neglect in the Car
“It’s a huge no-no, god forbid they get into a wreck, that baby is gone in an instant,” Jane told the outlet.
In addition to the initial clip, Jane also reported videos that show the children unsecured in the car. One clip shows a small child sitting on the floor in front of the passenger seat. Another shows a baby sitting in a woman’s arms, unsecured with the vehicle in motion.
“A baby should be rear-faced until at least the age of two,” Jane pointed out. “It may not be you being the stupid driver but there may be other stupid drivers. You can’t always trust the situation that you’re driving safely, anything can happen. A person can hit you from behind, hit you on the side and there goes the baby.”
Upon watching the clips, Jane immediately called Child Protective Services. However, she says CPS workers told her that, without a specific location for where the footage was shot, they could not investigate. Jane says she also provided the name of the woman in the video, as well as her place of work, but these were deemed insufficient to investigate.
News 4 reached out to CPS, who confirmed that they received Jane’s tip, but are unable to comment due to confidentiality concerns. However, the agency did urge citizens to report any such online incidents of neglect, and to try to provide as much information as possible, such as names, addresses, and license plate numbers.
Jane said she also contacted the San Antonio Police Department, to no avail.
“A Special Victims Detective told me I needed to meet them in person, which I was not able to do due to COVID,” she told News 4.
Confronting Mom’s Drinking and Driving
Finally, Jane said she was able to contact the mother in the video, who reportedly told her, “We were just going down the block and I didn’t have my car seat available and I needed a ride.”
Jane remained unconvinced. “Just excuses, excuses,” she said of the mother’s statement.
“It infuriated me even more because of how nonchalant and confident they were with posting this publicly on social media as if it was no big deal,” said Jane. She hopes that this experience will prompt the mom in the clip to do better in the future.
“For sure educate these women on car seat safety,” she said. “Teach them a lesson. They need to know this is wrong, it’s dangerous and very careless.”
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