Outrage Over DUI Arrest of Expectant Mother Nicole Marie Vanneil

May 02, 2008

In this day and age it is common knowledge that drugs and alcohol don't mix well with pregnancy. Unfortunately, common sense is not a virtue, and in this case it appears that intelligence was also a sparse commodity. The combination of the two makes for a perfect example of why some people should have to obtain a license to breed.

Case in point, the recent arrest of Nicole Marie Vanneil, a 22-year-old resident of Lutz, Florida, who recently racked up her third DUI arrest. The case would normally not merit much attention; however, in Vanneil's case she was 8 months pregnant when police arrested her earlier last month. To her chagrin, police have now released the dashcam footage from that arrest, which shows an obviously pregnant Vanneil failing miserably to make it through a field sobriety test.

According to police, a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy was en route to another call at 10:49 p.m. on April 17 when he spotted Vanneil's van swerving in front of him on Hanna Road in Lutz.

"The van ran off the road; actually crossed the center line a couple of times," sheriff's spokesman J. D. Callaway told The Tampa Tribune.

After shadowing the vehicle for a few miles, the deputy tripped the switch to his siren and conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle. According to police, the deputy smelled the odor of marijuana when he approached the vehicle, and upon making contact with Vanneil, he observed that her eyes were droopy. As a result, the deputy requested assistance from another patrol unit so he could conduct a field sobriety test (video here).

Police say Vanneil failed the test and that she refused to give consent for blood and urine tests. When the deputies searched Vanneil's car, they found marijuana and drug paraphernalia hidden both under the seat and inside the vehicle's center console. As a result, Vanneil was taken to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, where she was booked and charged with DUI, possession of less than 20 grams of cannabis, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

"You're not just affecting your pregnancy now, but you're affecting the rest of the child's life," TGH/USF Health Maternal Medicine Professor Victoria Belogolovkin told Foxnews.com yesterday. "There really are two people. There's a mom and a baby."

Yesterday, Vanneil spoke briefly about her arrest with Baynews9.com (video here). When asked whether she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol when police stopped her, Vanneil responded...

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Photo's Courtesy of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office