Alabama social worker arrested for driving down I-65 smoking crack with a child in the car

Police Lights

HOOVER, Ala. — According to the Hoover Police Department, the manager of a substance abuse treatment facility in Birmingham was caught driving down Interstate 65 smoking a crack pipe with a 5-year-old in the vehicle.

Bari Joy Williams, a 44-year-old Gardendale resident, was charged will multiple felonies after being arrested Nov. 20, but was released from the county lockup after posting $12,500 bond.

Al.com’s Carol Robinson reports that Hoover PD tracked Williams’ down after receiving a tip that she was driving erratically. And she must not have been trying to hide the reason; the caller also told the police Williams appeared to be smoking a crack pipe as she swerved along.

Bari Joy Williams (Photo: Hoover PD)
Bari Joy Williams (Photo: Hoover PD)

After following her into a parking lot, the officer walked up to the car and found Williams holding the crack pipe. With the “smell of burnt crack cocaine” wafting out of the car making it clear the gig was up, Williams reportedly began shouting that she worked at a substance abuse facility and that the pipe was her husband’s. According to al.com, she would later tell police that she was having family issues and had relapsed.

The little girl in the car is now in the care of the Alabama Department of Human Resources.

Williams is the clinical manager of Olivia’s House, a facility run by Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Centers, Inc., that “provides holistic care for chemically dependent women and their children.”


Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

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