A Philadelphia woman is facing felony child endangerment charges after she was allegedly drunk drove with her 1-year-old son in the vehicle during the early-morning hours of March 2.
Zoary Ocasio, 26, has been charged with one second-degree felony count of endangering the welfare of a child, along with misdemeanor counts of DUI and a summary charge of driving with no rear lights, in connection with the incident.
According to the criminal complaint, police were monitoring southbound traffic on Bethlehem Pike at 2:52 a.m. when they observed a white Toyota Corolla traveling with no rear lights. Police initiated a traffic stop along the 1600 block of Bethlehem Pike and made contact with the driver, later identified as Ocasio.
Police said they observed a young child strapped into a car seat located in the rear passenger’s seat, who was later identified as Ocasio’s 1-year-old son. Upon speaking with Ocasio, police noted a strong odor of alcohol emanating from the vehicle, according to the complaint.
Ocasio told police that she was driving from Allentown back to her residence in Philadelphia, and when asked when the last time she had consumed alcohol, Ocasio told police “about an hour ago,” the report states. Police also noted that Ocasio had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, as well as a case of Corona beers located on the front passenger-side floor with empty bottles protruding from the top, according to the complaint.
Ocasio was taken into custody for DUI at 3:07 a.m., after failing a series of field sobriety tests, police said. She would later consent to a blood draw for blood-alcohol concentration testing, the report states.
On March 15, police received the results of the blood test, which showed Occasion had a reported blood-alcohol level of .148% at the time of the incident, the report states. The legal limit in Pennsylvania is .08% BAC. Court records show that charges were officially filed against Ocasio on March 23.
Ocasio’s first court appearance on the charges is a preliminary hearing on May 19 at 1:15 p.m. in front of Magisterial District Judge Ed Levine.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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