From staff reports

news@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — A Duenweg woman has been charged with felony child endangerment for allegedly driving with a blood-alcohol content nearly twice the legal limit while her children were in the car.

Debra J. Fuller, 27, was arrested at 11:36 p.m. Wednesday by a deputy with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department after she reportedly failed three field-sobriety tests in the parking lot of the Tara Motel, 16920 Cimarron Road, Carthage.

Fuller was stopped at 10:14 p.m. after a deputy received a report of an eastbound Ford Mustang that was being driven erratically, according to a probable-cause statement filed Thursday in the Associate Division of Jasper County Circuit Court.

The officer reported that Fuller had a “strong odor of alcohol on her breath” when he approached her vehicle, and that her children, ages 3 and 6, were in the car without any child-safety restraints.

The statement alleges that Fuller failed an eye test, a balance test, and a walk and turn test before she was arrested.

The deputy reported that Fuller’s eyes were bloodshot, and that she had trouble maintaining her balance while standing and walking.

At the Jasper County Jail, she submitted to a breath-analysis test, which reportedly charted her blood-alcohol content at 0.142 percent. The legal limit for intoxication is 0.08 percent.

A sergeant at the Jasper County Jail said Fuller was no longer in jail Thursday afternoon but declined to say whether she had been released on bond.

A release from the Sheriff’s Department stated that Fuller’s children were left with family members.