13-Year-Old Calls 911 On Drunk Driving Mom

2009_07_drunkmom.jpg Things are pretty bad when your 13-year-old daughter calls the cops on you because you're (allegedly!) drinking and driving: Over the weekend, Susan Rogge of Putnam County was arrested when police discovered her with a car full of teenage kids, including her daughter, and with a blood alcohol level of 0.22, almost three times the legal limit. WCBS 2 reports, "Mom was apparently in the parking lot drinking beer in the car -- a big problem since mom was the ride home. Moments after they left the daughter turned the mother in for DWI. 'Mommy's drunk.' she told the operator. 'We almost crashed.'" Rogge's car was in the oncoming lane—and in the opposite direction—according to police; Carmel Police Chief Michael Johnson praised the child, "The 13-year-old was very responsive. You can't fault her. Some people might say she turned her mother in, but they are better off for it." Rogge has a history of alcohol-related offenses and her lawyer said, "She recognizes she has a serious disease and will be seeking in-patient treatment immediately." She is currently in jail, awaiting $10,000 cash bail or $20,000 bond.

Email This Entry


Comments (34) [rss]

Good for the daughter calling out her loser Mom. I'll never understand the selfishness of people like this woman.

Potentially sad story, but better than if someone had been killed. I hope the mother recognizes the good deed her daughter did. And gets help.

When I was a kid we didn't have 911 !

imagine if they didn't have a cell phone!

The daughter is trying to stop the cycle of an alcoholic in her family. Great job on her part and to see her mom needed help.

And this would be the mother I never want to become...

boy is she going to hate herself in the morning.

Good for that kid. Her mom really needs help.

Trying to stop a family member from driving drunk is good. Turning a family member in to the authorities is not good. A car full of teenagers is likely capable of stopping someone from driving without calling the police. Many of the drunk driving laws are as egregious and outrageous as our anti-drug laws and are unreasonably harsh on nonviolent offenders. This teenager deserves no pats on the back from us.

What is a non-violent drunk driver?

A drunk driver is a drunk driver, and if you do it, you should lose your license and not get it back until you're sober for good.

Have you seen the mangled bodies of people killed by drunk drivers? You don't think they died violently? You're an idiot.

Polite New Yorker,

Your post makes no sense.

You're actually saying the laws for drunk driving are too harsh? Are you insane?

Oh, yeah ... keeping the authorities out of it seemed to be working well so far! To recap: this woman has a HISTORY of alcohol-related offenses; she was driving a call full of minors with a BAC THREE TIMES over the legal limit; the car WAS stopped already, because she had lost control of it and ended up on the wrong side of the road, facing the wrong direction. And the responsibility should have been on a bunch of kids who were probably shitting their pants with fear to handle that? At what point does this woman lose the right to have her behavior marshalled by a bunch of children rather than the authorities? When she hits another car head-on? What does the body count need to be? How many people in how many vehicles? What a horribly cruel, ignorant, dangerous, and misguided thing for you to say. That teenager deserves pats on the back from EVERYONE, most of all her family and her own mother. Perhaps now this woman will be motivated to get the help she so clearly needs for her disease.

Wow, talk about hitting rock bottom.

Good job by the kid and hopefully this is the wake up call that leads to the mom getting the help she needs.

Smart kid. That took guts and was the right thing to do.

You win Hero of the Soviet Union Medal for reporting your parents to the KGB for purging for protection of the people. Just like our hero Pavlik Morozov.

In Soviet Russia, medal wins YOU!

I was thinking of Pavlik Morozov, but wasn't he just a little 13-year-old prick who turned his parents for nothing whereas these kids were trying to save lives (themselves, Mom, other drivers, etc.)?

The kid obviously wasn't in the mood to be killed in a car wreck regardless of who was at the wheel. Chalk one up for self preservation and common sense.

The mother failed miserably in her first duty as a parent; to protect her children.

That is one smart and brave kid.

that brat is definitely not getting her allowance this week.

Polite NYr "Trying to stop a family member from driving drunk is good. Turning a family member in to the authorities is not good. A car full of teenagers is likely capable of stopping someone from driving without calling the police. Many of the drunk driving laws are as egregious and outrageous as our anti-drug laws and are unreasonably harsh on nonviolent offenders. This teenager deserves no pats on the back from us."

Are you kidding us? So how exactly is this 13yr old child equipped to stop her MOTHER from driving a moving car w/out help? DD laws are "unreasonable"? How many times do you think you should be caught driving drunk and endangering families before you do lose your license or are you one of those who drive better when you've had a few...delusional perspective. This kid saved herself, her Mom and anyone in her way.

States often set a very low standard for what is considered "Driving Under the Influence," levy very large fines and court costs and often jail people who have killed or harmed no one. As for this instance, the post indicates the 13-year-old was one of several people in the car. Did the teenager attempt to call other relatives to get her mother help, or did she lash out at her mother by reporting her to the police?

http://www.ridl.us/articles/out_of_control.html

It is a sad that so many of us are quick to applaud children for turning in their parents to the government.

This woman is a repeat offender ... even the writer of that ridiculous article stays that repeat offenders deserve to go to jail. She didn't have two drinks over a five hour period, like the man in that ridiculous article. She was drinking in her car in the parking lot, right before driving the children home.

It is not up to relatives to cover up this woman's crime and rescue these poor traumatized kids.

LOL you can't be serious

soo. lemmi get this straight.

Mommy's driving drunk, has a history of drunk driving, swerving all over the road, with KIDS in the car.. and you think the daughter should have called..... relatives?

hmmm
so assuming she got in touch with said "relatives" what would they have done? called the cops?

and just for kicks, how would this case have looked if the girl called saay, her uncle, and then proceeded to be involved in a nasty accident... everyone would have said, why didn't you call 911.

your post is silly

friend, you've taken a libertarian stance to a foolish extreme. she driving in the ONCOMING LANE with a carload of kids. don't embarass yourself by continuing to argue a jackass point, really.

I couldn't have said it better. Sit down, Polite New Yorker.

Calling the cops to stop someone from killing innocent people is not even close to the same thing as ratting someone out to the government for criticizing some politician or speaking against the party line. Huge f'ing difference.

If Mommy was so out of control she couldn't stop drinking in the car with children, then she needed this wake-up call.
Sorry if not every intervention can be held at a more convenient time and place, like after the funerals.

"States often set a very low standard for what is considered "Driving Under the Influence,"

Whether or not that is true -- and what constitutes a "very low standard" is certainly debatable -- it's irrelevant in this case. Her BAC was measured at 0.22, which is well over even the most lax standard.

Something tells me Polite New Yorker likes to bend the old elbow a lot then heads for his car.

Mom just found out that all along she was raising an ignition interlock device.

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Contribute

Latest Tip:

if you can download firefox at work and then use adblock.
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS

Follow us