Buffalo Woman Charged With DUI and Child Endangerment

Daniel Prince

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Woman appeared passed out in the driver's seat at McDonalds; four-year-old was in the vehicle with her

A Buffalo woman faces DUI and child endangerment charges following a call about a suspicious vehicle at McDonalds of Union. Sgt. David Lee of the Union Public Safety Department was dispatched to check on a dark-colored Chevy SUV that had been pulled on the curb between the McDonalds parking lot and the entrance to North Duncan Bypass.

The vehicle was still in drive, and a female appeared to be passed out in the driver’s seat. Cpl. Jeff Wright arrived on scene. They found the doors locked to the vehicle, but the driver’s side window was down about two inches. They were able to unlock the doors, place the vehicle in park, and turn it off. Sgt. Lee saw the woman appear to wake up but then she fell asleep again. Lee woke her up again, and she fell asleep again. Lee woke her a third time. He asked the woman, identified as 33-year-old Samantha Pohle, if she knew where she was, and she looked around and stated Monticello, which is the town she used to live in in Florida. When asked if she knew why the police were talking to her, she said it was because she had hit the curb.
Sgt. Lee asked if Pohle had taken any medicine, and she told him she had taken Xanax.

She asked officers if her son, who is four years old, was in the vehicle, saying he would be behind the driver’s seat. Cpl. Wright did not initially see the child. She then told officers she had let him go to the back of the SUV to lay down. Wright then found the child asleep in the back of the vehicle under some cover and clothes.

Officers gave Pohle some tests to see if she could drive, and she showed signs of being under the influence and impaired. She was arrested. She gave officers permission to search the vehicle, and they found a hand-rolled cigar containing a green leafy substance in the ash tray, and in the back seat, they found a cigar wrapper with a green leafy substance and half of a yellow bar pill, believed to be Alprazolam, inside. Since Pohle’s family lives in Florida and she had no one to pick up the child, DSS was called and placed the child in emergency protective custody.

At Public Safety Headquarters, Pohle blew a 0.00 on the breath test. She refused to give a urine sample, stating she knew that she had drugs in her system. Sgt. Lee advised her that her SC driver’s license was suspended. Pohle was transported to the Union County Detention Center and charged with DUI and child endangerment.