SHELBYVILLE, Tenn.(AP) Eager to get his driver's license, a 7-year-old boy put on his seat belt and remembered to use his turn signal as he took his parents' pickup truck out for a spin, leading police on a slow pursuit around town. Officers initially thought they were chasing a drunken driver.
"He was weaving and all over the road. He couldn't stay in his lane," Officer Josh Laverette said. Instead, when the truck finally stopped in front of a home after a seven-mile escapade, they found a second-grader, barely four-feet-tall, behind the wheel.
"He was so short he had to sit up close to the steering wheel," Laverette said. "Whenever he would brake, he would pick himself up with his left foot and stomp on the brake with his right."
He said the boy, whose name was not released, narrowly avoided several collisions.
Laverette said that when they talked to the boy, who had pulled up in front of his own home, "He said the reason he took the vehicle was because he wanted to get his license."
Nine years too early for the license test, the boy was charged with driving without a license, eluding police and leaving the scene of an accident. He faces a hearing later this week in juvenile court.
Susan Daniel described the scene in the streets of Shelbyville, a town of about 14,000 residents 50 miles east of Nashville: "There were like probably five city cars and three county cars and a state trooper" all chasing the pickup.
"It blew my mind because we actually watched him put on his turn signal and turn, and we could see when he went past that he had seat belts on," Daniel said. "Then to come find out it was a child, I was really shocked."
I guess a country boy CAN survive!
Hopefully this won't be spreading into the suburbs!
[attachment 14941 SignHere.jpg]
"He was weaving and all over the road. He couldn't stay in his lane," Officer Josh Laverette said. Instead, when the truck finally stopped in front of a home after a seven-mile escapade, they found a second-grader, barely four-feet-tall, behind the wheel.
"He was so short he had to sit up close to the steering wheel," Laverette said. "Whenever he would brake, he would pick himself up with his left foot and stomp on the brake with his right."
He said the boy, whose name was not released, narrowly avoided several collisions.
Laverette said that when they talked to the boy, who had pulled up in front of his own home, "He said the reason he took the vehicle was because he wanted to get his license."
Nine years too early for the license test, the boy was charged with driving without a license, eluding police and leaving the scene of an accident. He faces a hearing later this week in juvenile court.
Susan Daniel described the scene in the streets of Shelbyville, a town of about 14,000 residents 50 miles east of Nashville: "There were like probably five city cars and three county cars and a state trooper" all chasing the pickup.
"It blew my mind because we actually watched him put on his turn signal and turn, and we could see when he went past that he had seat belts on," Daniel said. "Then to come find out it was a child, I was really shocked."
I guess a country boy CAN survive!
Hopefully this won't be spreading into the suburbs!
[attachment 14941 SignHere.jpg]
