Story Archive

Out of the Mouths of Babes

“I told her I didn’t want to die,” said a 17-year-old boy from Edgewater, Fla., to police. “And then she wouldn’t get out of the car so I had to pull it over. I had to pull like her, like, move her over and she started hitting me. I have bites, cuts and punches all over my face,” he said. The “she” involved is his mother. The family, including his father, was coming home from a Blue Oyster Cult concert, and his mother was drunk and “out of control,” driving close to 110 mph, the boy said. The car eventually ran out of gas, which is when he called 911. Deputies gave the boy a ride to protective custody; his father, Ronald Siciliano, a ride home; and the mother, Patricia Siciliano, 41, a ride to jail. She was charged with domestic battery, child abuse without great harm, resisting arrest, and three counts of battery on a law enforcement officer — but not drunk driving, since deputies didn’t actually see her behind the wheel. “She’s not a very smart alcoholic,” the boy said, “at all.” (RC/Orlando Sentinel) ...Not too many of them are, son.