ST. LOUIS (AP) - A woman appeared in court Friday on multiple charges after authorities allege she crashed into the median of an interstate highway in St. Louis with a syringe of heroin still in her arm and her 3-year-old child in the back seat.
The incident happened Tuesday evening, near downtown. Mandy Schlef, 33, of DeSoto, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a felony, and two misdemeanors: Unlawful use of drug paraphernalia and driving under the influence of drug intoxication.
Police said Friday that the child was not hurt and is in the custody of a grandmother.
Schlef is jailed on $50,000 bond. She had a brief court appearance on Friday and faces another on June 25. She does not have a listed attorney.
A probable cause statement from the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office said Schlef passed out and struck a median. She was still asleep when officers arrived and had a spoon and mirror in her lap. A syringe was allegedly stuck in her right arm, just below the bicep.
The probable cause statement said emergency responders administered the drug naloxone in Schlef’s left arm to counter the effects of “what appeared to be a heroin overdose.”
“Within a few minutes of EMS administering the naloxone, the defendant woke up from what appeared to be a comatose state, and began making statements that she needed to quit doing heroin,” the probable cause statement said.
Schlef was convicted in 2009 of endangering the welfare of a child in 2009. She was placed on probation for three years, but details of the crime were not immediately available.
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