Five-year-old drives drunk mother home

A woman has been charged with child endangerment and public intoxication after she allegedly allowed her five-year-old son to drive her car.

When Holly Schnobrich's Mitsubishi car screeched to a halt near her home in Lafayette, Indiana, on Saturday night, neighbours said they discovered her son behind the wheel.

Miss Schnobrich, 24, was sitting in the passenger seat and her younger son, aged three, was sitting unbuckled in the back. Both children were in their pyjamas.



Wendy Barrett, a neighbour on whose property the car stopped, said that when she asked: "Is this toddler driving your car?", his mother replied: "He's a good driver." Another neighbour removed the keys so Miss Schnobrich, who reportedly asked them not to call police, could not get away.

Police said neither child appeared hurt or upset but the five-year-old told an officer that he had been "having a hard time because I can't reach the pedals".

The children are being looked after by the Department of Child Services.