Detroit Dad: Letting 9-Year-Old Daughter Drive Was a ‘Mistake’
- Posted on December 4, 2011 at 4:02am by
Christopher Santarelli
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(The Blaze/AP) A suburban Detroit man said letting his 9-year-old daughter drive him around after he had been drinking was a bad idea that grew out of good memories from his youth.
Shawn Weimer, who faces trial on a felony child abuse charge, said he made a mistake in asking his daughter to drive in the early morning of Oct. 8. But the 39-year-old thought of the driving he did at her age on a 22-acre farm and around the junkyard his family owned.
“It’s just something that I experienced when I was a kid that I shared with my daughter,” Weimer told the Detroit Free Press for a story published Saturday.
Police arrested Weimer after pulling over the van and finding his daughter behind the wheel near their home. Surveillance video from a Brownstown Township gas station shows Weimer bragging about her driving skills.
Weimer said he picked up his daughter at her mother’s house in Lincoln Park and took her to his home, where they worked on a dirt bike and four-wheeler in the garage. They ride them together, he said, but that day was the first time she had driven the van.
Weimer said she drove around a private road for about 45 minutes before heading to the gas station.
The girl testified last month that her father had consumed half a bottle of whiskey the night they were pulled over and that she agreed to drive but felt a “little scared.”
When Weimer said he first saw the surveillance video played on television he was embarrassed.
“I didn’t want to see myself like that,” he said.
Weimer told the newspaper he has been attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and hasn’t any alcohol since his arrest.
His attorneys say he has been overcharged and the girl didn’t face physical harm. Weimer hasn’t decided whether to plead guilty to felony child abuse, a four-year felony that could be reduced to probation.
“I just want things to be over with, and I don’t want my daughter to be involved,” he said.
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Dr. Joel Fleischman
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 9:51pmDetroit Dad: Letting 9-Year-Old Daughter Drive Was a ‘Mistake’
uhhhh…. Ya think?
Report Post »vonMises
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 11:05pmWell, on the one hand, I started driving a tractor on our farm when I was 7, but on the other my father WASN’T STUPID DRUNK at the time, either.
Report Post »flatbroke
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 4:15pmIt aint the ole days thats for sure! i drove my parents car at 14 with their supervison of course, and drove around till i got my lic. at 19 w/supervision, bought cigarettes at 14, and even drank a little alcohol. but this is stupied, he should have kept his mouth shut. Hey at least she made it to the gas station, and did a great job. felony child abuse is ridiculous! he should have payed a fine, and got a stiff warning.
Report Post »sensible99
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 3:17pmMy dad used to let me drive (under his supervision) all the time at that age. My older brother let me borrow his mustang to drive around the neighborhood by myself when I was only 12 or 13.
Report Post »Sadly it’s a very different world we live in now.
abbygirl1994
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 9:58amBig Brother everywhere.. I knew kids raised on farms who were driving at 6 years old.. but a felony charge is asinine! God help us!
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 10:13amAgreed. I learned at 8…My daddy gets a felony for this now? Bullcrap!
Report Post »Marci
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 2:15pmA felony charge? This is stupidity.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 9:34amAnd raising your daughter in Detroit, is also a bad idea…..a really bad idea !!!
Report Post »moonlight on the bay
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 1:59amNow, if he’d had her driving AWAY from Detroit, never to return . . . well, THAT’D be a different story.
Report Post »moonlight on the bay
Posted on June 6, 2012 at 2:05amDismayed Veteran is right, big difference between driving on a farm and the streets of Detroit. What if they’d been carjacked? Helluva situation for this boneheaded dad to be putting his daughter in. Go back to the farm and let her drive THERE.
Report Post »Squ33
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 8:24amWhat I take from this story is that a 9 year old girl can successfully maneuver a car better than most 20 somethings in the U.S. And why do people have to be licensed to drive an automobile? Do such licenses prevent accidents? (Laughable).
Report Post »Wrabbit2000
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 6:58amSometimes, wrong just doesn’t describe a story. Putting his own little girl in the drivers seat because a man is too drunk to get himself from point A to point B is one example of that. Wow. Unbelievable.
Report Post »loriann12
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 8:48amYea, Detroit is NOT a big farm.Detroit has people running from the law, people jumping out in front of you. I just don’t think a 9 year old is capable of such instant decisions. Heck, most 16 year olds aren’t capable of that quick decision making necessary to drive a car. My 21 year old would be able to legally drive (age wise), but as his legal guardian, I can say he doesn’t have the decision making ability to do it.
Report Post »teacherskj
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 6:49amAnother example of idiocy in Detroit.
Report Post »demint.disciple
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 8:39amlmao, so it’s the city that made him do it.. Got it !!
Report Post »Baddoggy
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 5:24amI don’t understand the felony child abuse though. 48 years ago my father let me drive when I was 8 years old, should he have been arrested on a felony charge? BULLCRAP! Government run amok!
I am not defending the guy. He was drunk and needs to be punished for his stupidity. But felony child abuse? Come on man!
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on December 4, 2011 at 5:14pmAgreed! My Grand Father taught me at about the same age! Ah… Freedom LOST!
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 1:03pmWere your fathers drunk when they taught you to drive? Detroit isn’t a farm. This DUFUS endangered his daughter and other innocent motorists. What would be your reposnse if this little girl killed a pedestrian?
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