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Mother Killed Son in DUI Collision, Charged with Vehicular Homicide

The mother of a 7-year-old boy was charged with vehicular homicide after killing her son in a drunk-driving accident.

The boy, Isayah Casch was driving with him mom last year, when the mother crashed the car and blew over the legal limit. She had her three children in the car.

Kortnie Forbes crashed her puckup truck into two utility poles, that turned the truck on its side killed her son. Casch suffocated while being trapped under the truck, as reported in court documents. Before the accident, the mom had been investigated four times by Child Protective Service (CPS).

"There was a lady screaming about her kids, and so I went out there and helped her lift her kids out of the vehicle," said a witness.

Investigators said none of children were in child-restraint seats. If they had been, Casch’s death could have been prevented.

At the time of the fatal crash, Forbes' blood-alcohol level was 0.17 - more than twice the legal limit.

Someone has reported to CPS, on three different occasions that the mother had been driving drunk with her three children in the car.

"I am not sure if I can say it went wrong, that anything we could have done to prevent it," said deputy regional administrator of the Children's Administration Yen Lawlor, who oversees the CPS unit.

An investigation by CPS itself pointed out problems with staffing and experience. The social worker on the case had just four months on the job. She visited Forbes' home but she did not talk to the children alone and never made any follow-up visits – two very important things.

A child died in the interim of putting the mother under watch by a child protection team.
"There was a backlog," Lawlor said.

The review team has made several recommendations for changes to administrators.

Do you think CPS should have done more to stop this fatal DUI collision?

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