(La Porte, IN) - A driver from La Porte was allegedly impaired in a crash with a young child in the back seat of the vehicle.

 

Monica Del Real, 24, is charged in La Porte Circuit Court with Operating a Vehicle while Intoxicated and Child Neglect.

 

On Sunday night, La Porte Police officers were called to Shelton Avenue on the city’s far west side, with investigation showing that Del Real drove past where the road came to a dead end, her vehicle then becoming stuck in the soft ground of a yard.

 

She was then spotted trying to back out, but her tires could not gain enough traction to free the vehicle from the mud. Witnesses reportedly believed she was under the influence of drugs from her behavior, which they described as strange.

 

Officers noted that her speech was badly slurred, and a blood test revealed she was under the influence of marijuana with a five-year-old boy in the back seat of her vehicle.

 

Del Real could face an up-to-30-month sentence on each Level 6 felony count.