The case of a Washington woman who was charged with vehicular homicide after her young son died in a drunk driving accident last fall is now causing authorities to question Child Protective Services could have done more to prevent the child's death.

Last September, the woman crashed her pickup into two utility poles and rolled her pickup on its side near Smokey Point. She had reportedly been drinking prior to the accident, and was found to have had a blood alcohol content of .17 at the time of the accident.

Her son, 7-years-old at the time of the accident, apparently suffocated while trapped beneath the truck. Sources said all three of the woman's children were in the pickup at the time of the accident. Investigators said none of the children were given child-restraint seats. Had she done so, they say, her son would still be alive.

That incident was apparently not the first time the woman had driven drunk with her children in the car. Child protective Services reportedly investigated the woman four times prior to the accident. Since 2003, Child Protective Services received three separate reports that she had driven drunk with her kids in the car.

A spokeswoman for Children's Administration, the agency with oversees Child Protective Services, said it wasn't clear whether there was anything the agency could have done to prevent the accident from occurring. Child Protective Services investigated the case and noted problems with agency staffing and experience.

Sources said an agency review team has made recommendations to agency administrators.

Source: KOMO news, "Accused mother had history of driving drunk with kids on board," Tracy Vedder, 22 June 2011.