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Six-year-old wrecks car he was driving to school
The word "miracle" can be overused. But when a 6-year-old boy drives a Ford Taurus for more than 16km, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic, slams into a utility pole and no one gets hurt, well, maybe miracle is appropriate.
- By Tom Jackman, Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service
- Published: 23:38 January 7, 2009
Washington: The word "miracle" can be overused. But when a 6-year-old boy drives a Ford Taurus for more than 16km, weaving in and out of oncoming traffic, slams into a utility pole and no one gets hurt, well, maybe miracle is appropriate.
That's what happened on Virginia's Northern Neck on Monday morning, when the first-grader missed his school bus and decided to drive his mom's car to elementary school so he wouldn't miss breakfast and PE, authorities said on Tuesday.
"It's a miracle that somebody didn't get killed," said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins, of the boy's drive along Northumberland Highway. "We're a rural area, but if we do have a rush hour, that's it."
The boy's parents were later arrested and charged with felony child endangerment. Wilkins said the father, David E. Dodson, 40, was under court order not to leave the 6-year-old and his 4-year-old sibling alone with their mother, Jacqulyn D. Waltman, 26, at their home in the town of Wicomico Church.
But Dodson left for work at 6.30am, and Waltman was still asleep when the boy missed the bus and drove off at 7.40am for Northumberland Elementary School, Wilkins said.
Sergeant. Thomas A. Cunningham Jr of the Virginia State Police said the boy is not particularly tall for his age and was "possibly standing" while driving the Taurus. Wilkins said the child had an idea about how to start, propel and steer the car from playing video games.
Once he got going, the boy navigated his way along Dupont Highway, across a bridge spanning the Great Wicomico River, and then turned west on Northumberland Highway, which is about 225km from Washington. He made it through two intersections, Wilkins said, and then was "doing a pretty great rate of speed" as he passed cars on the two-lane road while not wearing a seat belt.
Other drivers noticed. Two people called the sheriff's office, one called the state police, and at least one motorist "shouted at him to get off the road when he came to an intersection," Cunningham said.
Just 2.4km from his school, he decided to overtake a car ahead of him. But this time, he saw a tractor-trailer coming toward him in the other lane.
Swerve
He quickly whipped the car back into his lane, but, unlike in video games, the car swerved out of control, skidded into an embankment and hit a utility pole on the rear passenger side.
The force of the impact cracked a wooden beam on top of the utility pole. The car was severely damaged and may be written off.
The boy was not injured, but placed in foster care while his mother was jailed.
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