Multiple DWI offenders continuing to drive in Boone County

A women who lead the Boone County Sheriff’s Department on a chase three weeks ago driving the opposite direction on Highway 63 is due in court on April 4th, 2016. Taneka Lee Lewis is charged for two DWI’s, a week apart from each other, driving with a revoked license, endangering a child, and resisting arrest.

According to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, individuals with multiple DWI’s and immediately returning to the street is a big problem. Tom O’ Sullivan with Boone County Sheriff said that, “the department does all that it can to get impaired drivers off the road but after that, the decision lies with the court system on what to do with those charges.”

Taneka was charged on March 5th, 2016 for DWI, driving with a revoked license, endangering the welfare of a child, and resisting arrest. On March 12th, just a week later Lewis was charged with DWI, and driving with a revoked license. On March 12th, Lewis was charged with DWI and driving with a revoked license. Lewis has since bonded out of jail and is awaiting her court date.

According to the police report on March 5th, Lewis’s eyes were “glassy and bloodshot.” The officer then did a breathalyzer test, and Lewis had a blood alcohol level of .242 which is three times the legal limit in Missouri. Lewis also had her two year old son, who was sleeping in the backseat as she was driving while intoxicated, and driving in the opposite direction on Highway 63.

Mother’s Against Drunk Drivers told ABC 17 on the phone today that more needs to be done by the court system, “once it’s gotten to a point where they’ve (accused) made the mistake more than once, more than twice, more than three times, they should be sentenced to a time in incarceration.”

O’Sullivan says that “all we can do is all we can do, to go out there and get these impaired drivers off the road for the evening, then we let the court system deal with the rest.”