Mom suspected of drunk driving arrested after kids found at Troy hotel

Troy police arrested a woman for drunken driving last weekend after her children were found in a hotel lobby, officials said.

Officers were called at 12:10 a.m. Saturday to the Marriot hotel on West Big Beaver Road by the business' security staff. They told officers they found three young children in the lobby who said they could not find their mother, a 44-year-old Southfield woman, according to authorities.

Police spoke to the children, who told them they had been at the Kona Grill with their mother earlier. The restaurant is also located on Big Beaver Road, less than a mile east.

The kids told them they believed their mother was intoxicated and did not feel safe getting into a vehicle with her, officials said.

Authorities said after the family went to the hotel, the children's mother told them she was going outside to smoke. The children contacted the hotel's staff when their mother did not return.

Officers learned Kona Grill staff had called dispatchers earlier to report the same woman appeared to be intoxicated and they were concerned about the children's safety.

A search for the woman began and officers found her driving a 2017 Buick sports utility vehicle west on Big Beaver Road near Livernois, not far from the hotel.

Police pulled her over. During the traffic stop, officers asked her to exit her SUV and they saw she was unsteady on her feet, slurred her speech and had bloodshot and glassy eyes, investigators said.

Officers said they administered several field sobriety tests and she performed poorly. Authorities asked the woman to submit to a breathalyzer test, but she refused.

Police arrested the woman and took her to the department's lockup. She again refused to take a breathalyzer and officers requested a warrant to have her blood drawn.

The case has been turned over to detectives awaiting the results of the blood alcohol test.

cramirez@detroitnews.com

X: @CharlesERamirez