18 year old lets 14 year old drive father's car. Two dead in crash

[Liberal_in_LA]

Driver, 14, arrested in double fatal SF crash
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco Chronicle November 19, 2010

San Francisco -- A 14-year-old boy apparently lost control of a car he was driving early Friday morning and slammed it into a utility pole in the south end of San Francisco, killing two male teens in the back seat and sending a third to the hospital, police said.

The boy was behind the wheel of the maroon Suzuki sedan because a fifth man in the car, an 18-year-old, had allegedly let him drive it, said San Francisco Police Lt. Lyn Tomioka. The car belongs to the 18-year-old's father.

The driver was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter and driving without a license. The 18-year-old whose father owns the car was arrested on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Tomioka said she couldn't remember the last time a driver so young had caused a fatal car crash in the city. Under California law, no one under the age of 15 and a half is allowed to operate a motor vehicle.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/11/19/BAFF1GEVD4.DTL#ixzz15mjA2T5k

[pinboy3niner]

1. This part of the story is no surprise:

The third teen in the back, a 16-year-old boy, has critical life-threatening injuries and is being treated at General Hospital, said Tomioka. None of the three in the back was wearing a seat belt.

That boy and the two teens in the front seat were from the East Bay, Tomioka said, but she could not supply the city names. The two in the front were wearing seat belts and were not seriously injured, she said.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. bad judgement all around

[LibDemAlways]

3. I have a friend whose 13-year-old took his family car for a

joyride out on a dirt road in the country. He veered into a ditch and was killed. This was a kid who had survived several open heart surgeries. Just tragic. Parents need to keep keys away from teens too young to have a license and stress to the older kids that they should never allow an unlicensed person of any age behind the wheel.

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. tragic!

[Seedersandleechers]

4. My son

got his learners permit at age 14, and he drove without incidence.

[bluedigger]

5. How tragic this must be for the parents. n/t

[alp227]

7. well why are they letting their kid go out with older boys from the East Bay to SF to begin with?

I just read this story. Basically: some East Bay teenagers go out to San Francisco on a Thursday night, and one of them who's 18 years old takes his dad's car and lets the 14 year old drive this. So how can it be a tragedy if the parents might not have been really responsible to begin with?

[bluedigger]

8. They probably weren't expecting this.

You want them to be punished?

[alp227]

9. Maybe yes, maybe no.

Depends whether they raised their kid right.

[bluedigger]

10. "Kid" being the pertinent point here.

And if that is the bar we are going to set, there's one shitload of parents soiling their undies right now...:shrug:

[mackerel]

11. Such a shame...the laws and rules are there for a reason.

Even at 15 1/2 you can only drive with a licensed driver over the age of 25.