CHICAGO—A nine-year-old girl asked police why they pulled her over when she was “driving good” after her drunken father got her to drive his van in the middle of the night, US media reported Tuesday.
The girl was sitting on a booster seat in the big red van, but somehow managed to reach the pedals and was even careful to use her turn signal.
“I parked!” she can be heard telling the clerk on a gas station’s surveillance video.
Her father, Shawn Weimer, 39, of Brownstown Township, Michigan, bragged openly about his “designated driver” before dancing his way back to the van his daughter parked at a pump just before 3:00 am on October 8.
“Nine years old. Nine! Gas, brake, listen, we’re leaving, and she’s driving. I’m drunk,” the man told the clerk, slurring his words and stumbling around in front of the counter.
A good Samaritan, who was disturbed by how the man was treating what he called his “little angel” called police and followed the van in his car to make sure police could pull them over as soon as possible, the Detroit Free Press reported.
The girl, who could be seen munching on a candy apple in the shop, had apparently driven before, police said.
“She was doing fine,” Brownstown Township Police Detective Lt. Robert Grant told the Free Press.
“And, in fact, as heinous as this is, the little girl looks at the police officer and says, ‘What did you stop me for? I was driving good.’ Incredible. Obviously, the officer told her she was too young to drive.”
The girl’s parents are separated and she was spending the weekend with her father. He told police he was just taking her for a driving lesson and refused a breathalyzer test. She told police he’d been drinking whiskey all night.
The father faces charges of felony child abuse and being a habitual offender.