Driver allegedly drunk with kids in trunk

MESA, Ariz., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Arizona police have jailed a 23-year-old man on charges of driving drunk with seven children in his sports car, three of them stuffed in the trunk.

Robert Soto of Mesa was jailed Tuesday night on seven counts of child endangerment and driving under the influence of alcohol, KTVK-TV, Phoenix, reported.

Police said they discovered the children, ranging in age from 6 to 13, when they responded to a call about a road rage incident involving Soto and another driver.

Soto, who had a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit, said he had been asked by a friend, Lynn Meza, to drive the neighborhood children home after attending a barbecue, officials said.

Police said Soto put four of the children in the backseat and three others in the trunk area of his hatchback.

The children were terrified, police said.

"I think we're lucky to be alive," Ashton Voorheis, 13, told KTVK-TV.

Meza, 46, was charged with child endangerment.