Mom accused of driving under the influence with her four young children in car

BATAVIA, Ohio - Rob Cooley sat quietly in the front row of a Clermont County courtroom as his wife and mother of his children faced a judge in handcuffs.

"I'm hoping this is her rock bottom," Cooley said.

Nichole Bishop-Cooley, 30, entered a not guilty plea to a series of charges including driving under the influence with her four young children in the car. Their ages are 11, 10, 3 and 10 months.

"The state believes this is a fairly egregious situation," said Thomas Scovanner, Clermont County assistant prosecutor. "The allegations are she was driving for a lengthy period of time with four children in the car with empty bottles of beer in the vehicle."

The Cooleys live in Bedford, Kentucky, located 70 miles south of Cincinnati. She was driving to Florence to visit a friend on Friday night according to her husband but never made it there. Court records state she crashed her vehicle at the ramp to I-275 at Wards Corner in Miami Township. That's located 40 miles northeast of Florence.
 
Prosecutors said Bishop-Cooley has a prior DUI conviction in Kentucky from 2008.

Judge James Shriver set bond at $50,000. Her husband has no plans to bail her out.

"Neither figuratively or literally am I bailing her out of this," Cooley said. "I love the hell out of my wife. Alcoholism is a beast."