Girl's plea leads to mother's DWI arrest

SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A Michigan woman was arrested for drunken driving after her daughter slipped a bank teller a note asking for help, police said.

Latanya Evans, was arrested Friday after she drove away from a Bank of America branch in Southfield, her 9-year-old daughter having refused to get back in her car, Police Lt. Nick Loussia told The Detroit News.

Evans was visibly drunk and failed sobriety tests, he said. The girl was unharmed, and her father picked her up at the bank.

"The girl was very smart and did the right thing," Loussia said. " … I have to give credit to the bank employees as well. They saw the woman was having a hard time parking her car and reported this right away when the girl wrote the note."

Evans appeared before Southfield District Magistrate Donna Posey Saturday and was charged with driving under the influence, third offense, and driving on a suspended license. She was freed on $2,500 bond and has a pretrial hearing Thursday.

Evans has had five license suspensions since 2000, two of them for drunken driving, and was convicted of child endangerment on 2002, state records show.