Brotherly Love

[dales]

Boy, 8, drives sister, 4, to McDonald's for a cheeseburger, doesn't hit anything on the way

By Mike Moffitt, SFGATE

Updated 1:47 pm, Wednesday, April 12, 2017


A craving for a McDonald's cheeseburger led an 8-year-old Ohio boy to borrow his dad's van for a burger run.


Eight p.m. Sunday in East Palestine, Ohio. Dad is in bed after working all day. Mom, also exhausted, falls asleep on the couch. Even though they've had dinner earlier, the 8-year-old son and his 4-year-old sister are hungry — for McDonald's.

But instead of the waking up his parents, the boy decides this is a problem he can handle by himself.

East Palestine Police Officer Jacob Koehler told FOX 8 News what happened next:

The boy seated his sister in the back of the father's work van before he got behind the wheel. He drove about a mile from his house, through four intersections and over railroad tracks. The trip required several right-hand turns and one left-hand turn.

Witnesses in other vehicles spotted the underage driver and called police. They reported he obeyed traffic rules, stopped at red lights, adhered to the speed limit and didn't sideswipe a single garbage can.

After reaching the drive-thru at the fast-food restaurant, the boy paid for the cheeseburgers with money from his piggy bank. The McDonald's workers thought the kid's parents were pranking them.

"The workers thought that the parents were in the back, but obviously they weren't," Koehler told the Weirton Daily Times.

Police arrived, but not before the children got to eat a cheeseburger and chicken nuggets. Meanwhile, the kids were spotted by a family friend who notified their grandparents, who drove to the restaurant to take them home.

How did an 8-year-old learn to drive?, Officer Koehler wanted to know. YouTube videos, the boy responded.


Apparently he was tall enough to reach the pedals.

[Long Run]

This is a ready-made advertisement for McD.

[Joe Guy]

I'm sure someone will call McChild Protection Services on the parents and the kids will be placed in Ronald McDonald House while the parents go to court and spend all their money on lawyers and will eventually get their kids back and no longer be able to afford a Big Mac but it won't matter because the children will be so traumatized by the whole situation that they will both develop anorexia and become very ill, causing them developmental disabilities that will eventually cause the boy to abuse drugs and get drunk and into his van later in life, then drive head-on into a Mac truck on the highway and destroy not only his family's lives but the lives of everyone else on the road that was involved and/or witnessed the accident.

How sad....

[Lord Jim]

Like Columbo used to say...

"I've got problems with this case..."

How did an 8-year-old learn to drive?, Officer Koehler wanted to know. YouTube videos, the boy responded.

I think that's the answer of a clever lad who didn't want to get his father in trouble...

There's no way that an eight year old kid learns how to drive his father's work van that well by watching Youtube videos...

He had to have hands on lessons with the specific vehicle...

My other question is this:

Eight p.m. Sunday in East Palestine, Ohio. Dad is in bed after working all day. Mom, also exhausted, falls asleep on the couch.

What's going on at this house, that Dad is in bed at 8PM, and Mom is conked out on the couch?

Maybe the explanations for that are completely innocent...

Maybe Dad gets up really early, and does shift work at a factory, and so does Mom...

How likely is that?


Like I said, I have problems with this case...

[Guinevere]

I fall asleep on the couch all the time. Sometimes at 8. My boys were obsessed with cars at that age. They would go play in any parked car in the driveway. They also had a little battery operated Jeep car they drove. And their father would let them sit on his lap and steer their car into the garage on occasion.

So yes, I can totally see it.

I just don't believe he was tall enough to reach the gas pedal and see over the steering wheel.

[BoSoxGal]

Keeping house, chasing a 4 & 8 year old, prepping meals for them and husband - any Hausfrau could fall asleep on the sofa after a day like that.

And if dad leaves the house 6am, he might very well be asleep that early on a work night.

As to the kid learning to drive - if he's that smart and gutsy, he's probably also relying on hours watching his dad drive and most parents also let the kids steer and such on drives. So I don't think it's impossible or entirely implausible. I bet CCTV would show he wasn't driving perfectly, but without much traffic I bet he could do pretty well.

I learned to drive on a simulator, which is basically holding a steering wheel, pushing fake pedals and watching a driving movie. Did okay my first go behind the wheel.

[dales]

I learned to drive on a simulator, which is basically holding a steering wheel, pushing fake pedals and watching a driving movie. Did okay my first go behind the wheel.

We went straight from the text book to the steering wheel, as driving simulators were quite some years away.

We had to hand crank the motor and make sure the spark advance on the steering column was fully retarded or you'd break your arm as the heap turned over.

[datsunaholic]

We had simulators- simulators that were as old as I was. They simulated some early 70s American battle tank, and the videos were just as old.

However, I'd had quite a bit of on-road practice beforehand. I had my learners permit 3, 4 months before starting Driver's Ed. Some of the other kids in my class had none whatsoever. I was already driving a stick- I learned on one, as the only car my folks had that was an Automatic was my Dad's commuter car (which he bought for us to learn on) but usually I'd go out with my Mom in her Datsun pickup. I was even driving my folk's Dodge Van (with 4 on the FLOOR- shifter was practically behind the seat). I was pretty much my family's chauffeur the whole year I had my permit, even drove into Canada. I was behind the wheel at the border. So on-street wasn't a big deal, and I passed my on-street exam first try. There were few things I wanted in my life more than getting that driver's license.

[Lord Jim]

When I took Tati out to drive for "the first time" when she was 14, (going on 15, but still way too young to get her license or even her learner's permit) we went to the parking lot at the now abandoned Candlestick Park, (huge parking lot; no chance of running into anything...I thought it was a great place to teach somebody how to drive...you couldn't possibly hit anything if you wanted to...)

We didn't take my old Range Rover; we took her mother's much newer and fancier car....

The minute we traded places and she got into the driver's seat, she adjusted the seat, adjusted the interior rear view mirror and the driver side and passenger side rear view mirrors, (having already put the key in the ignition with her foot on the brake)

And then she looked sweetly at me and said, "Okay, I'm ready"....

Then I looked back at her with a long Jack Benny-type stare and said...

"You've done this before"...

At which point she admitted that her mother (and her Grandmother) had been taking her out for driving lessons for months, but they had told her not to tell me, because they knew I wanted to be the one to give her her first driving lesson...

I told her she didn't do a really good job of concealing her knowledge...

And then we had a bit of a hug, and I told her that she could drive us home (which she did very well) and that I would discuss it with her mother later...

[oldr_n_wsr]

My kids were operating motorized vehicles long before permit age (much to the disagreement of my better half). From the battery operated quad (big wheels??) to garden tractors to go-carts to quads and snowmobiles we/they always had some type of motorized vehicle around.

The electric quad my son had, the batteries died. The quad had two 6volts batteries and in low they operated in parallel (6V) and hi they were in series (12V). When the batteries wouldn't hold a charge any longer I bought two 12 volters from the electronics catalogue I had at work. Rewired the charger that came with it so it would charge two 12 volt batteries in parallel. That thing took off with 24 volts in hi. Wore out the back "tires" (they were plastic). I found a three wheeler in someones garbage and fixed that up with 12 volt batteries too. They tipped over a few times before they got the hang of it. I ended up putting a PWM (pulse width modulation) circuit on them so there was some type of throttle control. The setup they came with was just "on-off".

My daughter almost took down the pool with the tractor and the son hit the fence with the go-cart. But they survived, along with the pool and the fence.

[MGMcAnick]

We had to hand crank the motor and make sure the spark advance on the steering column was fully retarded or you'd break your arm as the heap turned over.

Dales, that's called a chauffeur's break. When it kicks back, the engine tries to run backwards for a moment. My younger son had to explain the reason for the name to his instructor when he was taking his medical training. I'd explained it to my son when I had to hand crank my Model A because the battery was too weak. The trick is, don't wrap your thumb around the crank. Put all five fingers on the same side. That way, when it kicks back, all it will do is pull the crank from your hand.

I was driving fairly proficiently at the age of nine. After we moved here, we lived miles from town. I never drove on paved roads until I got my learner's permit the week of my 14th birthday. A 'restricted license' allowed a 14 year old to run farm errands for their parents and drive to and from school during daylight hours. A lot of kids carried a perpetual bale of straw in a pick up truck in case they got pulled over. I got that license two weeks later, after driving around the block, and trying to parallel park, with the local highway patrolman. I drove to my last day of Jr High. There was no designated student parking, so I just parked with the teachers. I was the only one. They didn't know what to do with me, so they let it slide. I got my $50 Hudson Hornet a year later, and abandoned the school bus.

[dales]

charge two 12 volt batteries in parallel.

Which would result in 12vdc, it would be 24vdc if connected in series.

[oldr_n_wsr]

charge two 12 volt batteries in parallel.

Which would result in 12vdc, it would be 24vdc if connected in series.

The original charger produced 12Vdc and would charge the original batteries (6Vdc each) in series. The new batteries I bought were 12Vdc so I had to rewire the charging circuit (aka wire hookups) so the batteries were in parallel and hte charger would charge them.

During operation, the batteries would be in parallel (12Vdc) in "Low" and in series (24Vdc) when in "High". Twice as fast as before.

Not to brag but I know a little bit about electrical "stuff" (graduated summa cum laude from NYIT with a BSEE degree)

[dales]

You have every right to toot your own horn, oldr

I took a few electronics classes at community college level.

I know enough how to install batteries in a flashlight.

[Burning Petard]

Lots of cars on the road today, with auto tranny, can keep moving without a foot on the gas pedal, but in drive, just by the computerized engine management system. Could he have just yanked on a hand brake to slow or stop it?

snailgate

[Lord Jim]

I know enough how to install batteries in a flashlight.

That pretty much exhausts my knowledge on the topic...

[oldr_n_wsr]

I know enough how to install batteries in a flashlight.

That pretty much exhausts my knowledge on the topic...

Not to worry LJ, I've got your back, as in, "Back away from that defective light switch."


You keep posting about politics (very eloquently I might add) and I'll try and keep you from being electrocuted.

[liberty]

I fall asleep on the couch all the time. Sometimes at 8. My boys were obsessed with cars at that age. They would go play in any parked car in the driveway. They also had a little battery operated Jeep car they drove. And their father would let them sit on his lap and steer their car into the garage on occasion.

So yes, I can totally see it.

I just don't believe he was tall enough to reach the gas pedal and see over the steering wheel.

Well I thought this might be a fiction as you did indicated I couldn’t see how an eight year old would have legs long enough reach the pedals. But then Jack Reacher was five feet tall when he was eight years old and he could drive a jeep all over the base in Germany where his father was stationed.

[Econoline]

But then Jack Reacher was five feet tall when he was eight years old and he could drive a jeep all over the base in Germany where his father was stationed.

Wouldn't that be an argument in favor of this story being fictional?

[Big RR]

OK, but Toonces could drive as well, and he was a cat.