Officers Pull Over Drunk Man Driving-left In Tears After One Look In The Backseat

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Intoxicated driving is unfortunately a problem police officers are faced with every day. Police officers in New Mexico thought this would be a DUI case just like any other but they were surprised when they made the traffic stop.

Deputies from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department were alerted by a swerving vehicle while they were on duty. As soon as they pulled the driver over, they could tell he was under the influence. His behavior made it obvious that he was highly intoxicated.

When the officers stopped 24 year old Jeffrey Salas, they did not expect the sad scene they discovered. Not only was Salas driving highly intoxicated but he also had his three small children in the vehicle with him.

There was a 5 year old, a 2 year old, and a 2 month old in the back seat of the swerving car. The smallest of them, the 2 month old, was sitting in an unbuckled car seat.

Deputies Roger Garcia and Sam Rodriguez did not want to expose the children to any more negative experiences, especially their first contact with police officers. Rodriguez said of the situation, “We had to remove him from the kids’ view. The last thing we wanted to do was expose these kids to a negative law enforcement encounter with their father.”.

Continuing their care for the children, the officers asked the young kids when they ate last. Garcia said, “they couldn’t remember.”.

With that heartbreaking news, the officers did their very best to feed the children. Three other deputies arrived on the scene to help with the children. Two made a McDonald’s run to buy meals for the two older children while the other helped change the infant’s dirty diaper.

Garcia found some baby formula and mixed a bottle for the baby. Rodriguez got a blanket from his church to wrap the baby in while he fed him. “It was a bunch of cops in uniform trying to make a bottle on the side of the road. We had a cold water bottle and we’re trying to use our heater to warm up the water for him,” Rodriguez explained.

For Rodriguez this was not his first run in with taking care of a child. He said he had babysitting experience ever since he was a kid but never had he done it with a gun on his hip, sitting in a patrol car.

After seeing pictures of her husband taking care of a stranger’s baby, Rodriguez’s wife told him, “Honey, it’s time to start a family.”

It has to be hard for police officers to always keep their composure when dealing with such sadness in the world but these officers got the job done. “It was really hard to be professional when we had such strong opinions about the morality of the situation. We really tried to keep it together for the welfare of the kids. We tried to be happy with them and give them a secure feeling,” Rodriguez said.

While the officers did their best to be tender with the children, they did not take it easy on their drunken father. Jeffrey Salas was arrested and his children were handed to the Children Youth and Families Department for the proper care and protection they needed.

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