Woman charged with child endangering following traffic stop

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police arrested a woman on a charge of child endangering about 1 a.m. Monday after reports said she was pulled over on the South Side for driving erratically at high speeds.

Nicole Adams was arraigned in municipal court on traffic charges and a misdemeanor charge of child endangering after her arrest at Erie Street and East Warren Avenue.

Reports said an officer noticed a car Adams was driving at Market Street and Dewey Avenue traveling at high speed, then suddenly slamming on the brakes. It took the officer a while to catch up to the car because of traffic, but he turned his lights and siren on for her to pull over. Instead, the car sped away before braking to an abrupt stop in the middle of the street.

Reports said officers saw a 6-year-old boy who was crying and upset in the backseat and was not wearing a seatbelt. Reports said when officers asked about the child, Adams said: “He’s fine.”

Davis told officers she was driving fast because she was trying to get back to her North Side home because she had just been in an argument with a friend.

Police allowed Adams to call a friend to take the child before she was taken to the Mahoning County jail. Charges she faces include driving without a valid driver’s license, and she also had a warrant for a probation violation because of unpaid fines from a 2011 traffic case.

In court, Adams said that her son was buckled in a seat belt but he took it off when they were pulled over by police. She also said she does not work because she has two disabled children she has to care for.