Story Archive

Not a Compelling Argument

“You are going to make me lose my job,” whined Donald Leet, 37, to Hillsborough County, Fla., sheriff’s deputies. He had drunk “a glass of wine” with dinner, so naturally he had let his girlfriend’s 11-year-old daughter drive. The girl lost control and crashed into the First Baptist Church of Brandon, severing a water pipe, which sent water spurting 50 feet into the air. Deputies arrived to find the girl climbing out the driver’s side window, with a 7-year-old girl right behind her. “Why don’t you arrest a rapist or murderer instead of me?” Leet demanded. “You’re an illiterate Southerner. You don’t know anything. You only have a high school diploma. You’re dumb.” Deputies noted his comments in their report, and arrested him on two charges of child neglect. Why not drunk driving? “He was drinking,” said sheriffs Deputy Larry McKinnon, “but we couldn’t charge him with DUI. The little girl was driving.” (RC/St. Petersburg Times, WFTS Tampa) ...Dang it. There’s always a loophole.