Grandmother Lets Child Drive and Crashes
Sunday afternoon, in a Quincy McDonald’s parking lot, a 74-year-old grandmother crashed into three different cars. When the police showed up at the McDonald’s at 275 Hancock Street at about 6 p.m. Sunday, the woman initially said that she had mistaken the gas pedal for the brake. After talking to a McDonald’s employee, who said that the woman’s granddaughter was driving, the police questioned the elderly woman again.
At first, she said that her granddaughter was on her lap. After police told her that eyewitnesses and video told a different story, she finally fessed up that her granddaughter had been in the driver’s seat. The woman let the 10-year-old sit in the driver’s seat as a “treat”. As she was explaining how the vehicle works, the child put the car into drive and crashed into several other vehicles. She said she changed places with her granddaughter so the girl wouldn’t get into trouble.
The grandmother, Joan Joseph from South Boston, was ticketed for permitting an unlicensed person to operate the vehicle. The name of the little girl was not released.
