Thomas Skinner, Moron of the Day: Used His 12-Year-Old Grandson as His Designated Driver

By Pete Kotz in Stupid Criminals

Thursday, July 29, 2010 at 8:01 am

59-year-old Thomas Skinner of Houston likes to party. But he likes to party safely. So when he decided to get hammered Monday night, he got a designated driver. The problem: The driver was his 12-year-old grandson...

Police in Liberty Hill, Texas got a 911 call about a truck driving erratically on Highway 29. When they stopped the vehicle, they found a hammered grandpa riding shotgun, with the 12-year-old boy behind the wheel. Skinner's 11-year-old grandson was also in the back seat.

When asked why the boy was driving, Skinner responded by saying the kid was learning to drive.

Police still don't know why they were on the highway, but the boy had apparently driven 20 miles.

Skinner is now in jail, and his grandkids have been returned to their Houston home. At least grandpa gave them a good story to tell when they get older.

See yesterday's episode of Moron of the Day: Burglar Gets Ass Kicked by Woman Armed with Railroad Spike.

Tags: Hammered Guys, Texas

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I'll bet that 12 year old kid drove better than his shitfaced grandpa would have!
i learned how to drive my dad's dually with a horse trailer at age 11 on back country roads. oh, and it was standered and he was sober.
um? so that sounds like something from "the simpsons" tv show. like they say the simpsons do it first.
Actually, back in my youth, this was far more common than one might think...especially in rural areas where children are taught to drive farm equipment by the time they are 8-10 or so. My dad would even chauffeur my grandfather around to get drunk from age 10 or so. By the time my dad turned 15 he decided it was easier kicking my grandfather to the curb than deal with it any longer. I have a friend who still to this day won't get her license or drive a car at age 29 because her drunk, abusive father made her be the designated driver on his drunken escapades from age 11 onwards until she ran away from home at 17. Sure, it's better than drunk driving and potentially killing innocent people. However, it's still abuse of a child, even though it is a subtle form of abuse. If it was a one time only thing, then perhaps the Judge will let grandpa get off for choosing the lesser of two evils while in a state of impaired judgment. However, if this is a regular, on-going, status quo kind of thing with grandpa, then maybe throwing the book at him isn't entirely out of the question.
Yes I am proud of old grandpa for not driving drunk. But Idk which is worse a drunk old man or a 12 year old driver? Maybe on some winding back road as practice. But down a highway? Nahhh.
Learning to drive is: 15 with a learners permit in a empty parking lot! Not on the main road with a drunk grandaddy teaching you! Boy. Will give kudos for not driving drunk, with or without kids in car. But still... thought i was bad teaching my son how to drive in a hay field! he learned to drive, and to drive a stick at the same time. Then went and got permit!!! (my property so the law said i could as long as i took responsiblity. I checked first!) Why didn't kids call parents instead? Oh wait. Why would they. To them it was fun! Oh well, guess grandpa wasn't the brightest bulb in the pack that day!
I know it's awful... but I can't help but laugh at this one!

TotalComments: 7

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