Mother charged with DUI

Her 8-year-old was in the car as she crashed and fled twice, say deputies and troopers.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD, Times Staff Writer
Published December 14, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Angela Atkinson, 32, of Palm Harbor was arrested on DUI and child abuse charges.

HOLIDAY - With heartbreaking simplicity, the 8-year-old girl described the case against Angela Atkinson.

"Help me. My mother is drunk, and she crashed the car."

Deputies encountered the girl when they arrived to investigate a wreck on U.S. 19 on Wednesday evening. At least four cars had been smashed and one man had minor injuries.

This is what Atkinson told them: "I don't care if I am drunk. I don't give a damn."

Atkinson, 32, of Palm Harbor, was driving a silver 1998 Mitsubishi on U.S. 19 near Darlington Road in Holiday about 8:30 p.m., Sheriff's Office and Florida Highway Patrol reports said.

She crashed into the back of a Chevy pickup, knocking it into the back of a Chevy sedan.

No one was injured.

Atkinson drove off.

Somewhere farther south on U.S. 19, she rammed a 1999 Pontiac.

Then she fled again.

The Pontiac's driver, Daniel Kilpatrick of Holiday, followed her a mile or so until she stopped, and then called police. Kilpatrick suffered minor injuries.

Standing with a trooper, the child pointed toward the Pontiac and said: "Mommy is driving crazy. She hit a truck, and then she hit this car."

Atkinson cursed at investigators and refused to take a breath test. A trooper wrote that she smelled like she'd been drinking, had poor balance and acted belligerently.

She also had moments of contrition, telling the trooper, "Take me to jail. I drank way too much. But leave my daughter alone. I screwed up, not her."

The child went to a relative's home, and Atkinson went to the county jail. She is charged with DUI, two counts of DUI with property damage, leaving the scene of an accident and child abuse. Bail was set at $6,500.

She remained jailed Thursday evening.

More charges are pending, patrol spokesman Larry Coggins said.

Atkinson had her license suspended in 2005, records show, then was cited for driving while it was suspended. She has no previous criminal arrests in Florida.

But according to her daughter, her drunken escapade was not a one-time event.

The little girl also told the trooper, "Every time she drinks, she gets like this."

[Last modified December 13, 2007, 21:51:22]