The solution to that quandary for an Ohio couple was having their 15-year-old son take the wheel of the family van to make the trip to Cedar Point from Columbus.
The teen was pulled over for speeding on July 2, doing about 83 in a 70 mph zone. An Ohio State Patrol trooper found the teen, his 12-year-old sister, and their parents, Michelle Kirk, 45, and Timothy McCoy, 54, in the car. The parents were inebriated and the teen didn’t have a license or learner’s permit. Via the Morning Journal:
“The trooper observed obvious signs of impairment for the parents and administered a portable breath test for both of them,” the report said. Kirk had a blood alcohol content of .265 percent and McCoy had a blood alcohol content of .184 percent, both over the legal limit of .08 percent in Ohio, according to the Patrol.“Upon questioning all of the individuals, it was learned that the family planned on going to Cedar Point,” the report said. “They left in the early morning hours with the 15-year-old driving.
“He drove all the way from Columbus until the trooper stopped him on SR 2 near Vermilion,” the Patrol reports said. “The boy stated they got lost and had been driving all night.”
The parents have been charged with child endangerment; Kirk has also been charged with wrongful entrustment of a vehicle.
This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2016.
Sounds like the parents got drunk and after boozing until the wee hours, decided to head to the abusement park on a whim. Hey, lets go ride some coasters!
At least they knew, or the kid knew, they were too drunk to drive. Maybe he volunteered because he was afraid of what they would do to him if he refused. I am sure they yelled at him to make him drive, and were so wasted they couldn’t even help him navigate. So they ended up in Vermilion. And then they were stopped in the early AM, after bumbling across half the state for hours.
I feel sorry as hell for the poor kid’s younger sister, who had to deal with this whole mess. I had an old man who didn’t need any booze to be a POS…he was just a natural-born SOB, so I know the drill…and so does my sis..
The kid certainly didn’t do this willingly. Maybe someday they will all look back at this incident and laugh, but I think not. The old man will probably drink himself to death pretty soon, and maybe the mother, too…if the kids are really lucky.
Chuckles the Clown