Son’s Plea For Help Leads to Dad’s DWI Charge

ST. PAUL  (AP) - A St. Paul man faces an impaired-driving charge after his 5-year-old son turned to a stranger for help.

The father had stopped his vehicle and refused to bring the boy and his sister home.

Police arrived to find 40-year-old Christian Stoner sitting on the vehicle's center console with an empty bottle on the driver's side floor.

Charges say a preliminary breath test put his blood-alcohol level at 0.289 percent - more than three times Minnesota's legal limit of 0.08 percent.

A police officer discovered the family in the vehicle about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday after the boy knocked on the door of a home. Police say the boy and girl were crying.

Stoner has been released on $12,000 bond. His attorney had no comment Friday.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved)