I can imagine the faces of the police officers who thought they were going to arrest a drunk man at the wheel and they found an 11 year old DRUNK little girl!
QUOTE |
ORANGE BEACH, Ala. - Police who chased a car for miles along a highway at speeds up to 100 mph said the driver was drunk, hardly a rarity in this resort town. But there was more: When they looked inside the flipped vehicle with guns drawn, they found an 11-year-old girl at the wheel. "You go up there thinking it's a felon you're dealing with," assistant police Chief Greg Duck said. The girl, who was slightly injured in the crash, is now charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident. Duck said she sideswiped another vehicle during the roughly 8-mile chase. The chase began around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday when a patrol officer near the Florida line saw the car speeding west along a beach highway, Duck said. When the officer flicked on his lights, the driver sped up. The girl rolled the car just inside the Gulf Shores city limit. Duck said the girl, whose name was not released because of her age, told police she was on her way to pick up her sister at a concert. Investigators found no alcohol in the car but believe the girl drank before getting behind the wheel of the car, which belongs to relatives. |
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The first question that comes to mind after reading this article is, where is this little girl's parents? How did she get access to a car? I hope the police also charge the owner of the car as well as the parents or whoever is supposedly looking after this girl. As far as the alcohol is concerned, I am not surprised about this in the least. If she got access to the car, then it does not come as a shock that, she was intoxicated because clearly, there is no adult supervision in this child's life. This is a horrifying story that could have ended in a tragedy. This girl could have lost her life or taken the lives of unsuspecting drivers on the highway. Thank god the police caught her in time!
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My first thought was that they didn't cite her for driving a vehicle without a license. I guess that's understandable, to some degree. I live in the country, and a LOT of kids know how to drive vehicles. They drive trucks all over the place on their own land. And they drive on the country roads.
That a child would have access to a vehicle here is a strange thought. Not that I want them DRIVING on our public roads, but everyone knows that it happens.
When my kids visit their cousins in the city, they are surprised that my kids actually can drive a car before they are 16. Just not that big a deal here, though.