A Casper woman stopped for a 5-year-old child not wearing a seat belt or in a booster seat in the front passenger seat of her car faces a laundry list of charges after allegedly initiating a police chase with the kid in the car.
Amanda Danee Rodriguez, 41, who eventually turned herself in after the Casper Police Department called off the chase because of the child in the car, said she panicked because she thought her daughter would be taken from her, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Officer Sean McFall made available Tuesday.
“Officer McFall asked why she fled the stop, and Rodriguez stated she was worried (he) was going to take (her child) from her,” the affidavit says.
McFall also could “smell the odor of a flavored alcoholic beverage emitting from her person,” and Rodriguez admitted to drinking that evening, he wrote.
She Took Off
The trouble began at about 11 p.m. Sept. 2 when McFall and Rodriguez were both stopped at a traffic light facing south on South McKinley Street at the intersection of East 13th Street.
The officer reports observing Rodriguez with her high-beam headlights on.
He also also saw “a young juvenile female in the front passenger seat in no car seat and no seat belt,” the affidavit says.
When he initiated a traffic stop, McFall wrote that he learned the child was 5, and asked why she wasn’t secured in the child safety seat that was in the back of the silver 2017 Subaru Legacy.
Rodriguez answered it was because the girl “was crying,” the affidavit says, adding she was “advised that was not an excuse and the juvenile could be seriously injured if they were involved in a crash.”
The girl moved into the back seat as McFall continued to question Rodriguez, who couldn’t provide registration or insurance paperwork for the vehicle.
When the officer went back to his patrol vehicle to check the woman’s driver’s license, which came back suspended, Rodriguez took off with the young child in the car, McFall wrote.
“Rodriguez immediately pulled away from the traffic stop in the vehicle with the 5-year-old in the rear passenger seat,” the affidavit says.
McFall activated his emergency lights and started to pursue the Subaru, but ultimately decided to call off the chase.
“Due to the misdemeanor violations and the juvenile present in the vehicle, Officer McFall was terminating the pursuit,” the affidavit says.
The Charges
While the chase was over, Casper police were still actively looking for Rodriguez, visiting her home, but they didn’t find her there.
It was nearly midnight when her car was found in a parking lot near 22nd and South Jefferson streets. In a search of the vehicle, officers found three empty shooter bottles of New Amsterdam peach-flavored vodka, the affidavit says.
While they were searching the car, Rodriguez’s boyfriend came up to police and said she wanted to turn herself in.
“(He) stated that Rodriguez was currently at the (home) address and wanted to turn herself in,” according to the affidavit. Once police got there, Rodriguez came outside and was arrested without further incident.
Instead of a possible ticket for not having a child younger than 9 in a car seat, Rodriguez has been charged with a list of misdemeanors, including:
• Child endangerment.
• Fleeing or attempting to elude police officers.
• Driving while license suspended.
• Open container.
• No insurance.
• Multiple-beam lamps.
• Child safety restraints not in use.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
