Video Shows NJ Mom With 3 Young Kids in Car Flunk DWI Test

A New Jersey mother with young children in her car is accused of having a blood alcohol level almost 5 times the legal limit when she was involved in a crash with a truck.

The police body cam video of her conversation with a Ewing Township police officer and her inability to perform the field sobriety test is all recorded and has been made public.

It is sad, shocking, and inexcusable.

Mother Flunks DWI Test With Kids in the Car

Megan Fackler, 39, is facing charges of DUI and endangering the welfare of children after her October crash.

The police report says Fackler had drifted into incoming traffic and crashed her 2020 Chevy Traverse into a truck after taking her 8, 7, and 4-year-old children to dinner on Oct. 5.

She is caught on the bodycam slurring her words and trying to explain why there are open bottles of wine in her back seat.
"There's empty wine bottles in the back, alright?" the police officer asks Fackler.

"Those are from weeks ago," she tells him.

Then she tells the cop that she works for the NJ Department of Transportation.

"So you understand you need to step out of the car," the officer replies.

Feckler is listed on the NJ DEP website as the Director of Statewide Planning.  This 2024 Facebook post congratulates her on a speech she gave.

Woman Sobs, 'Please Don't Arrest Me'

The bodycam video shows Fackler insisting that she had not been drinking and then making a poor attempt to pass the field sobriety test. It's sad.

In the video, Fackler says she and her children were heading home after a lacrosse practice, but she has trouble remembering which direction she was traveling.

A breathalyzer test later shows she had a blood alcohol level of .371, more than four times the legal limit. Her children were taken to be checked out at the hospital by police.

“Can you not get mad at me? I’m sorry about this,” she later sobbed, adding: “Please don’t arrest me.”

6ABC reports that the court records show Fackler was charged with another DWI in 2024 in Metuchen.