Dad charged after 12-year-old daughter crashes car killing man and dog
A father has been charged for letting his 12-year-old daughter to drive an SUV, which fatally struck a man and his dog, police said.
Prosecutors say Tomas Mejia Tol, 42, allowed the “child to operate a motor vehicle with no driver’s licence and no driving experience,” with a two-year-old in the back, Fox News reported.
Each charge reportedly carries a sentence of up two years behind bars.
The child was driving a black Ford Explorer in an apartment complex car park in Houston on Friday when she began to pull forward from a parking space as a man was walking with his dogs, police said.
“When the child pressed the accelerator pedal, the Ford moved forward at a high rate of speed, struck the man, one of his dogs and then a tree.”
Paramedics arrived at the scene, but they could not save the man, identified by local media as Enrique Vazquez, 46. His dog was also killed.
"It’s never ok to let a 12-year-old drive a car," Lynn Nguyen, of the Harris County District Attorneys Vehicular Crimes unit, told KPRC. "Twelve years old is way too young even if a parent is in the seat."
Mr Mejia Tol was arrested and has since been charged with criminal negligent homicide and endangering a child.
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