Steinbach woman endangers baby during drunk driving incident

A Steinbach woman issued a guilty plea in Steinbach Provincial Court on Feb. 27 after she drove drunk, rolling her car and injuring her nine-month-old baby.

On June 14, 2024, Miriam Stoll was driving northbound on Highway 12 near Blumenort with her nine-month-old baby girl in the back seat when she rolled her vehicle across two opposite lanes of traffic before the car came to a stop on its roof.

Police estimate she was driving between 134 and 154 kilometres per hour when she lost control of her vehicle.

People came out to help Stoll and found the baby out of its car seat and on the interior roof of the car with some bruising on her face and some dry blood on her nostril. Stoll was uninjured.

Stoll was originally charged with impaired operation causing bodily harm, impaired operation over .08 causing bodily harm, and dangerous operation causing bodily harm. She entered one guilty plea to the lesser charge of impaired operation over .08 as there was no bodily harm found to herself or the baby. The other charges were dropped.

Stoll is a permanent resident of Canada, which means her immigration status might be affected by the criminal charges and she might be deported. She has spoken to an immigration lawyer. Because of this accident Manitoba Public Insurance can increase her insurance costs and suspended her licence.

There is no minimum sentence for this crime, but the Crown is asking for jail time while the defense is asking for a fine or house arrest.

The judge didn’t give her a sentence instead waiting for a presentencing report to be filed, which will happen sometime after May 22. Stoll is scheduled to be back in court on March 5 for sentencing to be scheduled.