In Lafayette, Ind., 24-year-old Holly Schnobrich let her 5-year-old son, Weston, drive her car, because she was too intoxicated to drive.
What happened as a result? Weston careened around a corner near the family’s home, and came to an abrupt stop in front of Wendy Barrett’s home. Barrett was appalled at what she saw and asked Schnobrich “Is this toddler driving your car?” and Schnobrich’s response was, “He’s a good driver.”
After getting the answer from Schnobrich, Barrett and a neighbor opened the doors and removed both Weston and his 3-year-old brother Colton from the car. They also proceeded to take the keys from the ignition and call 911.
When police arrived at the scene, Schnobrich admitted to taking Percocet and Grey Goose vodka. While searching the vehicle, a prescription was found. The prescription, for a sleep aid, had been issued two days previous, for 100 pills.
However, when police opened the container, there were only 14 pills remaining. 86 pills had been taken out of the container in two days. Schnobrich said she had the Percocet to help soothe her nerves “for when the kids are acting wild.”
Following the police search of her car, Schnobrich failed every sobriety test that police attempted to give her.
She was arrested on three felony accounts – two counts of neglect of a dependant and one of public intoxication. In Indiana, the neglect charge is the equivalent of endangering the welfare of a child.
Only fours day prior to the incident, Schnobrich was put on probation, as the result of a guilty plea to an DUI charge stemming from a separate incident.
Both Weston and Colton were taken into custody by the Department of Child Services, where they were placed with family members.
The irony in the whole incident is not only that a mother thought her 5-year-old was a good driver, but also that she was the only one in the car buckled up. Neither Weston nor Colton was buckled in, yet there were two child safety seats in the backseat of the car.
When Weston was questioned by police about what happened, he summarized the situation in perfectly blunt words, “I was having a hard time because I can’t reach the pedals.”
Can anybody else count how many things are wrong with this situation? Oh, yeah, and it definitely reaffirms my thought some people really shouldn’t be allowed to have children.