Coaldale woman facing charges
Karen Stefanick, 45, of 164 Second St., Coaldale, faces charges from an incident which took place at about 1 a.m. on May 3, 2010 at Parkway and Patterson streets, Lansford. Charges of endangering the welfare of children, two counts of driving under the influence (DUI), careless driving, reckless driving, and driving on right side of roadway were filed by Officer Robert Shubeck.
According to an affidavit: Shubeck was on patrol when he saw a green Ford Explorer heading west in the 200 block of W. Bertsch Street. He saw the SUV go into the oncoming lane of traffic, close to the vehicles angle-parked on the opposite side of the street, then travel in that lane for awhile for no apparent reason.
The vehicle was all over the road, Shubeck wrote, drifting from side to side. The driver stopped at Patterson Street (Route 209), and signaled a left turn. Shubeck stopped the vehicle.
He told the driver, identified as Stefanick, what he had seen and asked if she was OK. Shubeck could smell a strong odor of alcohol and noticed her speech was slurred. She denied drinking.
While Stefanick looked for her license, Shubeck asked her passenger if she could drive. The passenger said she did not have a license and that she was 15. Shubeck saw a 4-year-old boy in a safety seat in the back.
Meanwhile, Stefanick found her license, but seemed to have forgotten about the registration.
She was asked to perform field sobriety tests, which she failed. She was taken to St. Luke's Miners Memorial Hospital, Coaldale, where a blood test revealed a .25BAC.
