Two people were arrested for driving under the influence while they had children with them, Alaska State Troopers say.
On the first incident, reported Saturday evening, troopers were patrolling the Richardson Highway near Mile 271 when they noticed a gray Jeep Grand Cherokee going 95 mph in a 65 mph zone, according to an online dispatch posted Monday. A traffic stop was conducted and the driver, identified as 34-year-old Melinda Mullet of North Pole, was found to be driving under the influence of liquor with her two minor children, ages 1 and 3 years old, in the vehicle.
Mullet was arrested and remanded at the Fairbanks Correctional Center for driving under the influence and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child. She was also cited for speeding, failing to provide proof of insurance and operating a vehicle with expired registration, troopers wrote. The children were released to the father.
In a second, separate incident, a 25-year-old man was arrested Thursday afternoon after troopers and Nikiski Fire Department emergency medical technicians responded to a report of a man passed out in a vehicle that was in a ditch near Mile 30 of the Kenai Spur Highway, according to a Monday online dispatch.
Phillip Evans Jr. of Nikiski was arrested for driving under the influence and three counts of first-degree child endangerment. He was remanded to the Wildwood Pretrial Facility in Kenai and remanded on $2,000 bail, troopers said. His vehicle was also impounded and the three children, who are all younger than 3 years old, were released to a family member.
–This is a developing story.