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Police: Woman blows .21 while driving with child in car

STALLINGS — Police said a Mint Hill mother is facing child abuse charges after she was arrested for driving drunk with her 4-year-old son in the backseat.
 
Officers arrested Emily Cunningham late Saturday night after they said she lost control of her minivan and crashed into a ditch off Lawyers Road.
 
"She had been at a party in the neighborhood that evening and was leaving the party," Chief Minor Plyler said. "She also hit several mailboxes leaving the neighborhood."
 
Investigators said neither Cunningham nor her son was injured in the accident, but said Cunningham failed field sobriety tests and registered 0.21 on a BAC test. The legal level in North Carolina is .08.
 
"She was very slow, lethargic in her speech and her movements were very unsteady," Plyler said.
 
Officers said Cunningham released her son to a family friend after her arrest but was so intoxicated, she later forgot.
 
"During an interview, she did not remember who she had agreed to give the child to," Plyler said.
 
Cunningham was charged with DWI, child abuse and reckless driving to endanger.
 
Eyewitness News went to Cunningham's home Monday, but Cunningham said she did not want to comment on her arrest.
 
"I really don't want to. I'm trying to keep this a little bit quiet right now," Cunningham said.

Tune into Eyewitness News at 5:30 for Kathryn Burcham's story.