Five Kids Found In Car After DUI Stop In Del City

A mother is facing a multitude of charges, including five counts of child endangerment, after a traffic stop in Del City, in late March.

According to a report by Del City Police, at around 9:40 p.m. on March 27 police received a report of a car driving erratically near SE 29^th St. and Epperly Dr. The responding officer spotted the vehicle at a red light and began to follow behind.

The officer followed the vehicle, a black '82 Acura Legend, to the 4500 block of SE 29^th St. where he observed the driver swerve from the inside lane to the outside lane. He tried to conduct a traffic stop at this point but the Acura continued to drive to the next block at SE 29^th St. and Vickie.

 The officers says the Acura, stopped in the left turn lane, sat at the stoplight for 15 seconds and then proceeded  to make the left turn though the red. The vehicle finally yielded to the officer in the 2800 block of Vickie.

The officer approached the car and made contact with the driver, identified as Kourtney Norris. Norris appeared confused and disoriented, according to the officer, so he had her exit the vehicle where he noticed her wobbling on unsteady legs.

When asked if she had been drinking, Norris said no. Then the officer asked if she was on any medication and Norris said she took Methodone on a daily basis. After conducting a field sobriety test, the officer determined Norris to be under the influence of some intoxicant and placed her under arrest.

Dispatch advised the officer that Norris was also driving with a suspended license. The reason why the license was suspended has not been released.

The officer then discovered that five children, ages 8, 4, 3, 2 and 1, were inside of the vehicle with Norris. The 8-year-old was wearing a seatbelt in the front seat and the 1-year-old was in a car seat in the back. The other three children were unrestrained inside the car.

While Norris and the officer were waiting for someone to come pick up the children, Norris asked if she could have that person take her purse. Suspicious, the officer asked if anything was in the purse that he needed to know about. Norris said no, but agreed to allow officers to search inside the purse. Inside police found two pills that were later identified as Oxycodone.

Norris refused to take a blood test. She was then arrested and booked on five counts of child endangerment, one for possession of a controlled dangerous substance without a prescription, driving under the influence, driving under suspension, failure to stop at a stoplight and improper lane use. Details on a bond were not immediately available.