Mom arrested for DUI; baby home alone

A Carson City mother was arrested early Wednesday morning for allegedly leaving her toddler home alone while she drove drunk.

Stacie Nieman, 34, was booked into the Carson City Jail on suspicion of child endangerment, second-offense drunken driving and failure to stop at a signal light.

According to Sgt. Mark Clark, of the Nevada Highway Patrol, Trooper Ben Leonard spotted Nieman's vehicle about 11:58 p.m. in the eastbound turn lane at Deer Run Road. Clark said Nieman stopped at the light, then allegedly made a U-turn to head west on Highway 50 East before the light changed.

Leonard stopped Nieman, who told the trooper she didn't know where she was going or where she was coming from, Clark said. After failing a field sobriety test and being taken into custody, Nieman told Leonard her daughter was home alone.

Carson City Sheriff's records indicate deputies went to Nieman's Blue Haven address and found the door unlocked and the child asleep upstairs. No one else was in the home.

A request by Nieman to allow a neighbor to care for the child was denied, and the baby was turned over to the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services.

Nieman was being held on $10,000 bail.

• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.