CHARLESTOWN — The police charged a South Kingstown mother with child neglect after a traffic stop, saying she was drinking beer in a pickup truck with six unrestrained children, said police Lt. Patrick McMahon.

Officers stopped a Ford Ranger driven by Autumn Noka at 4:47 p.m. April 24 on Route 1 north after the police received reports it was traveling with unrestrained children in its bed who were throwing beer cans into the road, McMahon said.

Officers found two children, ages 10 and 11, in the truck bed with 250 empty beer cans, a cement block and a spare tire. Their mother, Stacy Brown; Noka; and four other children, including a 1-year-old tucked under the dashboard, were inside the cab, McMahon said.

Brown was drinking a beer from a 12-pack inside the truck and smelled strongly of alcohol, according to the police report.

Asked for information about the children, Brown, 28, could not accurately recall their birth dates, the report by Officer Scott J. Puckett says.

The police charged Brown, whose address is listed as the Champagne Heights housing complex, at 364 Curtis Corner Rd., with child neglect for traveling while intoxicated with six unrestrained children, McMahon said.

The children were taken by ambulance to the Charlestown police station and referred to the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, McMahon said. Three were released to their father, at Pierce Street in Westerly, and three went to their grandmother, with whom they live at Champagne Heights. DCYF ordered that the father or grandmother must accompany Brown when she is with the children, McMahon said.

The police charged Noka, 23, of 305 Church St., Richmond, with operating on a suspended license and reckless driving for putting the children at risk, McMahon said. In addition, she received citations for operating with an expired registration, operating without evidence of insurance, and with an open-container violation. She was issued six summonses for not having the children restrained and two because she and Brown were not wearing seat belts.

Brown did not enter a plea when she appeared April 25 in District Court, Wakefield, because child neglect is a felony. Her court-appointed lawyer, Therese M. Caron, did not return a phone call yesterday.

kmulvane@projo.com