Franklin Lakes Mom Drove Intoxicated With Teen Sons In Car, Police Say

FRANKLIN LAKES, NJ - A borough mother was charged with driving while intoxicated with her kids in the car after Wyckoff police clocked her traveling 50 miles per hour early Sunday morning, police said.

Patrolman Kyle Ferreira saw the vehicle Ellen Hartgers, 48, was driving cross the centerline on Godwin Avenue at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Chief Benjamin C. Fox said.

The vehicle crossed the centerline and, despite Ferreira trying to stop it, kept traveling until stopped on Wyckoff Avenue in Mahwah, Fox said.

Hartgers, of Franklin Lakes, was charged with two counts of driving while intoxicated while having a minor child in the vehicle, driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, speeding, and failure to maintain her lane of travel, Fox said.

The teenage boys, ages 16 and 15, were turned over to family members, police said and Hartgers was released to a friend. She is scheduled to appear in municipal court March 17.