Police: Drunk Dad Let 7-Year-Old Drive

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N E W P O R T R I C H E Y, Fla. — Barry Colbert had had a few too many drinks, police say, so he decided to let his son drive. Unfortunately, the boy is 7 years old.

The child sailed the manual-transmission 1988 Mercury Tracer through a stop sign and rear-ended another vehicle, police said. The car also did not have its lights on.

"The father was in the front seat with the child," said Pasco County Sheriff's Department spokesman Jon Powers. "He apparently allowed the child to occasionally drive the vehicle as a reward for being good."

"Some kids play with dolls," Colbert told the St. Petersburg Times. "My kid wants to drive."

When sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene they found Colbert behind the wheel, trying to back away from the accident, Powers said. They smelled alcohol on his breath and performed field sobriety tests on him, which he failed, he added.

Colbert won't be the only one facing charges stemming from the incident, which occurred last Friday night.

"We intend to charge the 7-year-old for driving without a license, driving without headlights and running a stop sign," Powers said.

The father faces charges of driving with a suspended license, driving while intoxicated, and allowing an unlicensed driver to operate the vehicle.

"It was a terrible decision for a couple of reasons," Powers said. "A, it's illegal. B, it's extremely dangerous."

Colbert, however, defended his actions.

"I'm not irresponsible," the 38-year-old father told the Times. "I just had a few beers."

He said the his son's go-cart had been stolen recently, and that he had let the boy drive various vehicles on a Kentucky farm without any problems.

"When you're in rural Kentucky, it's all farm," Colbert said. "There's no police out there to tell you that you can't do this and you can't do that."

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