Background: News footage of Iris Ruiz during her bond hearing on May 11 (WTVJ). Inset: Iris Damaris Ruiz (Miami-Dade County Corrections & Rehabilitation).
A Florida woman was arrested on Mother”s Day after police said she was drunk when she crashed her car, which caught on fire, while her two children were inside it.
Iris Damaris Ruiz, 33, was charged with DUI, two counts of DUI with property damage and/or injuries, and two counts of child abuse after police said she was responsible for a fiery car crash that took place on Sunday in Miami, Florida. According to an arrest affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper said that after he saw the crash scene, a 12-year-old boy was “waving his arms” to get his attention. As the trooper approached, he saw the boy was carrying a 2-year-old girl.
Police saw a “smoking” gray Nissan with “heavy front-end damage.” A male witness was there trying to help Ruiz out of the driver’s seat, but “she was refusing to get out.”
According to the affidavit, the trooper found minor injuries on the 12-year-old boy before turning his attention to Ruiz. When he told Ruiz that she had to exit the vehicle because a fire had started in the engine, she finally stood up and got out. After the trooper put out the fire with a fire extinguisher, he turned back to the family members to see if they were injured.
While the trooper did not see any injuries that required immediate medical attention, he wrote in the affidavit that he noticed the smell of alcohol on Ruiz when she spoke. Her speech was allegedly slurred and she had “bloodshot, watery eyes.” The trooper said Ruiz did not remember how the crash happened, and when she was asked to show him her driver’s license, “she was unable to take it out” of her wallet.
The trooper asked Ruiz to participate in a field sobriety test, during which she allegedly showed several signs of intoxication, including beginning to count with “1,000-2.” She then allegedly “repeated numbers instead of counting in sequential order.” A breath test revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.216.
Ruiz was arrested and booked into the Turner Guilford Correctional Center. According to reporting by local NBC affiliate WTVJ, both children were in the custody of their grandmother.
As WTVJ reported, Ruiz appeared in court on Monday for a bond hearing. She was released to Pretrial Services, and Judge Mindy Glazer ordered her not to have contact with her children. When Ruiz’s public defender asked about supervised visits, Glazer turned her down, saying, “Absolutely not. Let her get clean, and let the dependency judge decide if she’s in a state to be a good mom for her children. It’s a shame and unfortunate.”
Glazer added, “Her Mother’s Day was spent driving drunk with two children in the car, which she could have killed.”
Ruiz’s next court date was scheduled for July 9.
