A Tacoma, Washington man is now being charged after authorities say that his crimes not only endangered his own life but that of many others including an infant child.
Police say that 22-year-old Michael Tonkin, of Puyallup, crashed his vehicle while he was heavily intoxicated, having sex while driving, all with a three-month-old baby in the backseat.
According to authorities both Tonkin and his child's mother were driving the car along State Route 7 naked, while having sex, and both being drunk, before the car missed a curve and crashed into a tree on the 48400 block of Mountain Highway near La Grande, Washington, according to<a href="http://komonews.com/news/local/naked-couple-accused-of-driving-drunk-having-sex-crashes-with-baby-in-back-seat"> KOMO News</a>.
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Witnesses said as both of the adults jumped out of the vehicle both were still naked and heavily impaired.
A lot of people thought it was funny,” said Washington State Patrol Trooper Brooke Bova. “To us it isn't funny.”
The 22-year-old woman wasn't wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash and was transported to the hospital with several broken bones, but the 3-month-old baby was miraculously uninjured during the crash.
Tonkin was arrested initially for driving under the influence and brought to the Pierce County Jail, where police say he has three prior DUI convictions.
The charges have since been upped against Tonkin, who is now charged with vehicular assault, reckless endangerment, driving with license suspended and driving without a required interlock device.
He's now being detained on a $500,000 bail.
“When you first hear it you may tend to snicker,” said motorist Jud Irish. “But the more you think about it and understand the consequences then it's not anything to snicker about.”
The Judge didn't think it was funny, and Tonkin was told that if convicted this would be his fourth DUI, which is a felony in Washington.
The deputy prosecutor told the court, “Which includes a pending DUI with blood level of .20.”
“I think we've hammered home the 'don't drink and drive’ repeatedly,” said Trooper Bova. “But now I guess we need to say 'be responsible about your other actions in the vehicle’ as well.”
The child's mother has yet to be charged, pending her surgeries in the hospital but investigators haven't ruled out future charges of endangering her child as well.
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