TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — When a Florida deputy clocked a 16-year-old driving 132 mph on I-4, he wouldn’t let him go without first telling his parents a tragic story that began exactly the same way.
Earlier this year, Orange County Corporal Greg Rittger caught the teen speeding down I-4 in what appears to be a white, newer-model Toyota Supra.
“Do you understand that if you were 18 you’d be going to jail for reckless driving?” Corporal Rittger can be heard asking the teen in a body camera video.
The corporal asked the teen to speak with his father over the phone.
“Dad, this is Corporal Rittger at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. I need you to come out here and pick up your son.”
When the teen’s parents arrived, Corporal Rittger shared a touching, cautionary story with them.
“I guess, personally, why I called you and made you come out here is I had a kid about eight, nine, 10 years ago that I stopped in a brand new Mustang, and his parents were going through a divorce,” Rittger said. “They bought him this car and all this. He was like 16.”
“Three weeks after that court date, he wrapped the car around a tree. And now these parents don’t have a kid.”
Rittger advised the 16-year-old parents he issued their son a speeding citation that requires a court appearance. The statutory fine is $1,104. The teen’s parents returned the car home.