Girl Takes Breathalyzer Test to Start Car for Drunken Father; 3 Die in Crash
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SAN MARCOS, Tex. — Gregory Cook decided to take his two daughters to breakfast, starting the car after one of the girls apparently blew into a breath-analyzing device that had been installed to keep him from driving drunk.
About half an hour after they set out Sept. 25, the car skidded into a waste water treatment pond, drowning Cook, 36, and the girls, 8-year-old Marissa and 10-year-old Shauna.
Last week, a grand jury indicted the youngsters’ mother, Shirley Draper, for not stopping the girls from riding with their intoxicated father.
Draper, 34, could get up to life in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors said Draper knew that Cook, her ex-husband, had been drinking and wasn’t capable of driving safely.
Draper “told us she was aware one of her children would have to blow into the apparatus to get the car running and keep it running,” Sheriff Paul Hastings said.
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