VANCOUVER, Wash. - An 8-year-old boy riding in a car with his mom called 911 several times to report that she wasn't "acting normal," leading to her arrest for investigation of drunken driving and other charges, authorities said.
Paulette Lynn Spears, 33, was arrested Saturday after she drove to a fire station and said she had a medical problem.
Guided by her son's description of what he could see from the car, as well as by global positioning technology to track the phone calls, deputies arrived at the station less than a minute later.
"He said 'I don't know where we are, and Mom's not acting normal,'" sheriff's Sgt. Randon M. Walker said.
At one point, Spears took a cellular telephone from the boy, told the dispatcher not to worry and hung up, Walker said. The boy called back, and again his mother cut short the call, Walker said.
"The mother kept interrupting the 8-year-old," he said. "It happened at least twice."
At one point, Walker said, Spears apparently bit the boy's hand to get the telephone away from him.
Four minutes before the boy's first call, dispatchers had received a report of car that matched the description of Spears' car being driven erratically.
The boy and a 5-year-old child, who was also in the car, were placed with an aunt. As of Monday, Spears remained in jail for investigation of drunken driving, two counts of reckless endangerment and assault of a child. It was not clear if she had a lawyer to speak for her because she had not appeared in court.
Records show she has at least one conviction for drunken driving.
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