Father found sleeping in car charged with DUI

An unthinkable scene played out in the middle of Interstate 4, after a father was charged with driving under the influence, with his two little girls buckled up in the back seat of his car.  

The Florida Highway Patrol says they found 39-year-old Adrian Adams at a dead stop in his car in a center lane in Downtown Orlando.  

“I thought he was disabled, so I pulled behind him,” one FHP trooper is heard on dashboard camera video telling another trooper. 

The car was fine.  Troopers said was passed out cold behind the wheel, car in drive, foot on the brake.

As the first trooper arrived on scene, he said he banged on the window several times, before Adams woke up.  The children, ages 3 and 5, remained asleep in their booster seats.  With permission from Adams, troopers moved his car out of the middle of I-4 over to a breakdown lane.  

Troopers then had Adams go through a field test, repeating some of the instructions over and over again, as he went through the exercises.  At one point, Adams can be heard on the dash cam video telling the trooper that he had only had two beers.  

At the conclusion of the field sobriety test, Adams was handcuffed and charged.  That’s when he is heard expressing concern about his children.  

“You can just let me drive home man,” Adams said.   "No sir. You’re under arrest for DUI.  You’ve got your kids in the car. That’s child endangerment,” the trooper responded.  

FHP allowed Adams to call a friend to pick up children.  Records show Adams refused a blood alcohol test.  Court records also show Adams has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.  He is heading to trial next month.