A drink-driver who crashed his car on the A14, while carrying his six-year-old son as a passenger, has been banned from the road for almost four years.
A text message found on a mobile phone in the footwell of Edward Harrison's VW Golf read: "Eddie has had too much to drink".
The 35-year-old caused a collision which closed a stretch of the eastbound A14 on Tuesday.
On Thursday, he appeared in custody at Suffolk Magistrates' Court, on video link from Martlesham Heath police station, to admit drink-driving and being drunk in charge of a child.
Prosecutor Colette Harper said Harrison's car collided with the back of a lorry while overtaking and spun into the central reservation, near junction 51 for the A140, shortly after 6pm.
A following motorist, who pulled over to assist, said Harrison smelled of alcohol and asked: "Can you help me, bruv?"
When police arrived, Harrison and his son were being treated in the back of an ambulance.
An incomplete text, found on a phone in the footwell of Harrison's car, read: "Come and pick [child's name] up because Eddie has had too much to drink".
Three-and-a-half hours later, having been discharged from hospital, Harrison provided a breathalyser reading of 73 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - more than twice the legal limit of 35mcg.
The court heard Harrison had been convicted of drug-driving on September 19, 2016, and would be liable for a three-year ban.
Andrew Cleal, mitigating, said: "Notwithstanding his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity, he is clearly wracked with remorse by what could have happened."
Harrison claimed to have drank two pints of cider at a local pub before driving home to Hill Rise, Stowmarket, to collect his son and take him to his own parents' address.
Mr Cleal said Harrison should not have mixed alcohol with drugs he had been prescribed for long-term depression and anxiety.
"He has expressed obvious desire to address his problems," he added.
"He is terrified of going to prison. He has no experience of the system and it would have a terrible impact on his family."
Harrison was handed a 12-month community order with a requirement to attend up to 25 days of rehabilitation activity.
He was banned from driving for 46 months and fined £161.
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