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Police: Father arrested for DUI with 3 children in car

PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. — Brian Robert Gramento sits in the Pierce County Jail Tuesday after being arrested for at least the seventh time on drunken driving charges.


And for at least the second time, his three young children -- 4, 6 and 7 years old --- were in the vehicle with him, police said.

According to the Puyallup Police Department, 32-year-old Gramento endangered his children's lives while heading home from the Western Washington State Fair in Puyallup just before midnight Sunday. 

Commander Scott Engle told KIRO 7 that Gramento ran a stop sign then nearly struck a police officer's vehicle at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Second Street Southwest.

"The officer was concerned about the driver's safety, but more importantly, the children's safety," Engle said.

The responding officer wrote in his report that he smelled "the strong odor of intoxicants coming from Gramento's breath and person." 

Gramento refused a Breathalyzer but later admitted to drinking at the Fair.

Gramento has a history of felony DUI, reckless endangerment and careless driving. Sources inside the Pierce County Sheriff's Office told KIRO 7 that Gramento has been booked into the county jail 15 times since 1999, and all but once for alcohol-related infractions.

He has no driver's license and no interlock device in his vehicle, even though one has been ordered by a judge. Police said Sunday night was at least the second time Gramento has been arrested for DUI with his kids in the car. 

In March 2012, Gramento was pulled over in University Place. A Pierce County sheriff's deputy wrote that Gramento "was wearing a drinking bracelet which shows he was carded at a drinking establishment like a bowling alley indicating he was old enough to drink." 

In the back seat of his vehicle that night: his then 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children, according to police.

Gramento is being held in the Pierce County jail with bail set at $200,000. According to court records, he was released from jail earlier this year after serving seven months for a DUI conviction.

KIRO 7 reporter Amy Clancy visited Gramento’s Lakewood home and phoned his relatives today, but no one could be reached for comment.