A 35-year-old Angola woman was charged Tuesday night with felony driving while impaired by drugs under the state’s new Leandra’s Law, according to Hamburg police.

Officers said Kristen Allan, who was pulled over for driving erratically, was found with her 3-year-old son and hypodermic needles in the back seat of the car.

The incident began about 7:15 p. m. when a vehicle struck a car in the parking lot of a Valero gas station on Route 5 in Lackawanna and then left the scene, witnesses later told police.

The witnesses followed the fleeing car into Hamburg, where Officers Jeff Lavelle and Josh Eagan saw the suspected hit-and-run car driving erratically, police said in a news release.

The officers pulled over the vehicle and determined that Allan was under the influence of drugs.

Allan’s young son was in a car seat in the back of the car. Next to him on the seat officers found a coloring book with hypodermic needles inside.

“They were just shocked when they found the needles in the child’s coloring book. That was the thing that really bothered the officers the most,” said Hamburg Police Capt. Gregory Wickett.

Officers also found traces of heroin in the vehicle, Wickett said.

Leandra’s Law went into effect on Dec. 18. Under the law, operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a felony, even for a first-time offender, if a child age 15 or younger is in the vehicle.

Allan is charged with driving while impaired by drugs, felony DWI, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Lackawanna police added the charges of leaving the scene of a property damage accident and aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.

Arrests for driving while high on drugs used to be unusual, Wickett said.

“Now, it’s just something we’re seeing more and more of,” he told The Buffalo News.

Allan was arraigned Wednesday in Hamburg Town Court. Bail was set at $15,000, and she was taken to the Erie County Holding Center, Wickett said.

A passenger in her vehicle, Noel Merced, 39, also of Angola, was found to be wanted on a warrant in Buffalo and was turned over to city police.

Allan’s son was turned over to a family member.