Dad with visitation charged with DUI while baby in car (Williamsburg, Kentucky)

Father HERSCHEL A. TERRY has been arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, DUI, and endangering a minor. His infant son was in the back seat. According to the police, Dad was supposedly in a "parental dispute" with his ex-wife over visitation with his infant son while intoxicated. (Why do the police and the press call it a "dispute" when a protective parent simply wants to keep a child safe? Isn't this just good, responsible parenting? Unfortunately, this is the kind of "maternal gatekeeping" that many mothers end up getting slammed for.)

http://www.thetimestribune.com/local/local_story_189082126.html

Published: July 08, 2009 08:20 am

Man charged with DUI has baby in car

By Samantha Swindler / Managing Editor

A man involved in a parental dispute with his ex-wife was arrested in Williamsburg Saturday after allegedly driving off with his child while intoxicated.

Williamsburg police received a call at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday that a suspect wanted in Campbell County, Tenn. for taking an infant from his ex-wife was headed through Whitley County.

WPD Captain Eddie Cain spotted the car traveling north on I-75 at the seven mile marker. Cain, K9 Officer Brandon Prewitt and Sgt. Brad Boyd were able to stop the man at the nine-mile marker. Officers made sure the driver, Herschel A. Terry, quickly exited the vehicle to get him away from the baby as soon as possible. Officers originally thought the case was a kidnapping, but it was actually a dispute between two parents — the mother did not want the father to have visitation with the child. “There was no abduction involved, no kidnapping, it was simply a parental disagreement,” Public Affairs Officer Shawn Jackson said. “There were no court orders in place saying who should or should not have the child.”

Thus, Terry’s charges stemmed from possession of drug paraphernalia (police apparently found a rolled dollar bill containing residue of a powdery substance), driving under the influence and endangering the welfare of a minor. The child, who was found unharmed and strapped into a infant carrier inside the car, was turned over to the mother, and Jackson said Social Services opened an investigation.

Terry was lodged in the Whitley County Jail.

WPD was assisted by Kentucky State Police and Whitley County Sheriff’s deputies, and Jackson credited the officers’ quick response to the child’s safe return. “They really did an excellent job ending a potentially dangerous situation for the infant,” he said.