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HEATHSVILLE, Va.
A couple charged with child endangerment after their 6-year-old son crashed the family car while trying to drive himself to school will be arraigned Friday.
Northumberland County Commonwealth's Attorney R. Michael McKenney said Wednesday that a lawyer likely will be appointed for 26-year-old Jaqulyn Deana Waltman and 40-year-old David Eugene Dodson during the hearing in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court in Heathsville.
Waltman is being held without bond. Dodson was released on a $5,000 bond.
The boy and his 4-year-old brother were placed in protective custody.
The incident happened around 7:40 a.m. Monday on Route 360, about 61 miles east of Richmond.
The boy, whose name wasn't released, missed the bus, took the keys to his family's 2005 Ford Taurus and drove nearly six miles toward school while his mother was asleep, police said.
He made at least two 90-degree turns, passed several cars and ran off the rural two-lane road several times before hitting an embankment and utility pole about a mile and a half from school.
State police said the boy suffered only minor injuries, and authorities drove him to school after he was evaluated at a hospital for a bump on his head. He arrived shortly after lunch, Sgt. Tom Cunningham said.
The boy told police he learned to drive playing Grand Theft Auto and Monster Truck Jam video games.
"He was very intent on getting to school," said Northumberland County Sheriff Chuck Wilkins. "When he got out of the car, he started walking to school. He did not want to miss breakfast and PE."
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Mark wake up....
this child was 6, he had no supervision in the morning because his mother was sleeping. He had to get himself ready and make adult decisions like what should this child wear, what will he eat, how will he get to school. he missed the bus and rather than wake up his mother (who would probably become retaliatory for being disturbed....yes I feel comfortable making that assumption) he took the keys and drove himself to school based upon what he has learned from a video game rated above his age level.
This child was neglicted.....endangered, and endangering others. These parents failed at every turn here and should be dealt with by the authorities.
I fear that your failure to look at this clearly displays your own lax attitude toward parenting......scary really!
marym, elsie
My point about what my sister and I went through with our mother being sick, is that if that would have happened today and the authorities would have found out about it, there is a good chance they would have intervened and quite possibly taken us away from our parents. Someone today could call it 'abuse' even though we were eating well, getting our school work done and keeping up with our chores. I can honestly say that while she was sick, the household cleaning still got done including the laundry. My mother has ALWAYS had a bad temper and the neighbors knew about it from her shouting at us from time to time, but it stopped there: she gave us spankings when we needed and deserved it, but it was never excessive. Today, just her shouting would have gotten her in trouble and considered 'abusive.' Again, an example of how things have changed, and in some ways, not for the better.
throw the mother in jail
Throw the Mother in jail and throw away the key. I'm sorry, but this is not the first time she has had problems being a parent. Heck, she doesn't even know what a parent is. Bravo to the kid for trying to take care of himself, but he still needs guidance and direction, and apparently he isn't getting it.
Mark K.
The skills may be there, but the adult emotions (and the self-control) don't come any earlier for our kids today. I'll bet you yourself can feel very sad and lost about the time when your mom was so sick when you were young. Even though she couldn't help it, you probably felt abandoned sometimes. These babies still need their parents, even when they have their own Facebook account!!! (smile!)
Markk
It sounds to me like when your mom was sick, your parents were very responsible getting the neighbors involved, etc. And, you had your 11 year old sister. My 11 year old gets herself ready for school, gets her own breakfast, and feeds her animals every morning...and then I take her to school. At 11, she is quite capable of handling responsibilities, just like your sister. Could she do all that at six? No...not without direct supervision!
An interesting contradiction
Something to the side of this case that is interesting to note: children are learning to read, write, do math problems, even use computers at much earlier ages than before. With all this learning comes responsibilties at earlier ages too. So we have kids learning things at earlier ages, but yet we expect them to not grow up at younger ages? It does not excuse this situation, but it does highlight what we are creating through how we are educating children and letting them use modern technology such as computers at such early ages.
Mark K
I gently submit that your mother was ill and couldn't help you. Sounds like in the current case, the mother has been found negligent before and this is just one more example. Big difference! Sorry your mother was so ill when you were young though . . .
What the article did not
What the article did not mention is that there was a previous court order for the dad not to leave the kid alone with his mom.
I agree
with Mark. One incident shouldn't ruin a whole family's lives. Just makes me wonder how many innocent people are in jail.
Times have changed
My sister reminded me of when our stay at home mother was very ill and we did have to see ourselves off to school. My sister was 11 and I was 8. Our father had to be up and gone very early to his job. We were brought up to be responsible at an earlier than normal age because of the circumstance. We had neighbors that checked to see that we did get off to school: we had to check in with them. But we were responsible for getting ready for school, getting breakfast, fixing our lunches and getting out the door on time. When we got home, we checked in with our neighbors, then we had chores to do. About two hours later, our father would arrive home and fix dinner. This went on for over a month. Were we neglected? I guess by today's standard, we were. Back then, people thought of it as a necessary circumstance. My sister and I survived the experience without any trauma or other difficulties. We became responsible at an earlier age. It goes to show you how times have changed.