CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) — Clearwater police arrested a man Sunday evening who they said let a 5-year-old drive a vehicle.
The Clearwater Police Department said at around 6 p.m., officers got a call about a child sitting on a man’s lap and driving in the area of Flagler Drive and Clark Street.
When a responding officer arrived, he saw the vehicle swerving and causing a large amount of dust to fly in the air.
The officer said that when he pulled the car over, he saw Skyler Gage Albright, 28, of Clearwater in the driver’s seat with a 5-year-old in his lap. Neither of them were wearing seatbelts.
The man told the officer that he was just teaching the child to drive while they came back from the beach.
“The defendant stated that drove approximately half way, and allowed the child to drive the other half,” the officer wrote in an affidavit. “He estimated that he allowed the child to drive for ‘five minutes.'”
According to police, Albright showed signs of impairment including swaying, slurred speech, and bloodshot eyes. He told the officer he had two beers before driving, the arrest report said.
The man refused to take a breath sample and did poorly on his field sobriety exercises, the officer wrote.
Albright was booked on charges for driving under the influence and child abuse shortly after.
