CUMBERLAND, Md. — A Maryland woman left three children on the side of the highway after backing into another vehicle and fleeing the scene Sunday night, Maryland State Police said.
Maryland State Police said they received a phone call from a "distraught" 11-year-old around 9 p.m. on July 12. The boy told police that he was left on the shoulder of Westbound I-68 near Cassleman River and was with his 5-year-old sister and another friend, a 9-year-old girl.
State troopers said they found the children standing in the darkness, only a few feet away from heavy traffic passing by. The kids told officers one of their moms, Alix Marshall Locke, had been driving them and was extremely intoxicated.
The children said that Locke had backed into another car near Keyser's Ridge Truck Stop and had immediately left the scene with them in the car. Once on I-68, she pulled over on the shoulder, left them on the road and drove away.
Locke had been watching two of the children for a neighbor and was caring for them for the day, police said. All three kids were taken to legal guardians and were uninjured.
Two days later, on July 14, troopers were able to locate a damaged gray Nissan Murano car that matched the description of Lockes at an address in Cumberland.
There, they found Locke, who was arrested on multiple counts of reckless and intoxicated endangerment as well as neglect of minors.
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