WOODHAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A 9-year-old girl cried Tuesday as she explained how she drove a full-size van in suburban Detroit while her father sat in the passenger seat after a night of drinking whiskey.
The girl said her dad, Shawn Weimer, asked her if she wanted to drive in the wee hours of Oct. 8.
Weimer, 39, was charged with child abuse after police in Brownstown Township stopped the van and found the girl behind the wheel. A judge will decide Nov. 15 whether he will stand trial. His daughter testified that he drank half of a bottle of whiskey and threw the rest away earlier that night.
“Was your dad drunk?” assistant prosecutor Keisha Glenn asked.
“He told me he was,” the girl replied.
The judge listened to a 911 call and also watched a portion of a surveillance video from a gas station where Weimer bragged about his daughter’s driving skills while she munched on a candy apple.
“Nine years old — 9,” Weimer said in the gas station. “We’re leaving and she’s driving. I’m