Mom gets DUI with newborn improperly secured in back: Cops
Inset: Ivana Dolores Salazar (El Paso County Jail). Background: The area where she was pulled over Sunday evening (Google Maps).
A 27-year-old mother in Texas is accused of driving drunk, telling authorities that she was on her way to pick up her 5-month-old baby, only to be told by police that the infant was already in the back seat of her vehicle — seated in an improperly secured car seat.
Ivana Dolores Salazar was taken into custody over the weekend and charged with one count of driving while intoxicated with a passenger under the age of 15 and one count of endangering a child, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, deputies at about 1:28 a.m. on Sunday, April 6, 2025, conducted a traffic stop on a black Mercedes in the 3900 block of Rich Beem Boulevard. Deputies said they pulled the car over because the driver, later identified as Salazar, failed to signal before changing lanes.
Speaking to deputies, Salazar allegedly said that she was on her way to pick up her newborn child after recently getting off work. However, during the conversation, one of the deputies spotted an unknown red liquid inside of a clear glass cup. This allegedly led them to develop reasonable suspicion that Salazar had been drinking while operating her vehicle.
Just before she was placed under arrest, deputies said Salazar unambiguously stated that she was the sole occupant in the vehicle.
Following the arrest, deputies said they conducted a search of Salazar’s vehicle and made a shocking discovery: her 5-month-old baby was already in the rear of the vehicle sitting a “car seat that was not properly secured.”
