This incident occurred early Tuesday morning in the 1800 block of State Road 44.
Deputies said they were pulling over Cateria Thomas for having an altered temporary tag and a child unrestrained.
According to the arrest report, deputies said as they reached the driver’s side window, Thomas was sitting in the vehicle breastfeeding a small child.
Deputies said she had red bloodshot and glassy eyes, her speech was slurred, and in the back seat were three other children ages 1, 3 and 4.
In the front passenger seat, deputies noticed a full gas can.
Deputies said during a field sobriety test, she was swaying and not able to steady her balance.
“Doing that to a child is not right, that’s not a mother,” said Thomas’ neighbor, Sylvia Dabbs.
Family at Thomas’ residence would not comment and claimed it was the wrong house. One neighbor, however, said that the children’s grandmother told her what happened.
“She came over here and talked to us and said that [Thomas] had drove drunk last night with the baby and was breastfeeding and all the four kids got taken away this afternoon,” said Dabbs.
The Florida Department of Children and Families released a statement saying, “We are very concerned about this incident. This is very alarming that you would have someone trying to breastfeed their child while driving and especially while driving drunk. Seldom, do we see this type of incident taking place. The safety of our children is our top concern.”
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office arrest report said Thomas refused a breathalyzer, but did advise she had four hamburgers with whiskey in them.
DCF is doing background checks on relatives to find a place for the children, they said.
Thomas was still in the Volusia County jail Tuesday night for unlawful alteration to her tag, operating with a suspended license, a child act that could result in physical or mental injury, and DUI.
bytch breast milk was probably tasting like Hennessey
sounds like a pretty good plan