Suspected ‘impaired’ driver was sober 9-year-old with an odd excuse, Florida cops say

A suspected drunk driver traveling “all over the roadway” in Crestview, Florida, turned out to be a completely sober 9-year-old boy, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

That’s not the strangest part of the story, however.

He was stopped after giving a grown man a ride home, the sheriff’s office says.

It happened around 8 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, and a witness to the boy’s driving is the one who alerted deputies, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Crestview is about 150 miles west of Tallahassee, on the Florida Panhandle.

“A witness spotted a car entering Oak Hill Road from a neighborhood around 8 a.m. (Sunday) and suspected the driver was impaired due to the vehicle being all over the roadway,” the sheriff’s office said.

“He cut off the car near the intersection of Highway 85 and Old Bethel Road and noticed a child was behind the wheel. He told the child to get in the passenger seat and pulled the car into a convenience store parking lot.”

The 9-year-old boy was alone in the car, and told deputies he was returning home after giving a 22-year old man a ride to a residence on Brickhill Court — 7 miles away, officials said.

“The child ... had traveled nearly three miles, when the witness intervened,” the sheriff’s office said.

“When contacted, the child’s mother says she was not aware the boy had left the home.”

An investigation led to the Oct. 10 arrest of a 22-year-old Crestview man, who is charged with “child neglect without great bodily harm” and possession of less than 20 grams of marijuana, jail records show.

The suspect “told deputies his decision was a ‘mistake’ but would not elaborate,” officials said.

Investigators did not say who owned the vehicle or how the boy knew the suspect.

“We want to express our sincere gratitude to the witness who noticed something was wrong and intervened, potentially preventing a tragedy involving a child,” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said in the release.

This story was originally published October 11, 2022 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Suspected ‘impaired’ driver was sober 9-year-old with an odd excuse, Florida cops say."