Girl, 12, drunk and driving?
Winona County authorities say a drunken man asked the youth to drive, and she crashed the car.
Barely old enough for junior high, a 12-year-old rural Minnesota girl may be charged with DWI, according to authorities.
She was at the wheel of a car that missed a curve Saturday in Winona County, according to Sheriff David Brand.
A deputy got a surprise when he asked the girl, whom he suspected of drinking, for her license. She said she didn't have one because she was only 12. The situation was even more remarkable considering that a licensed driver, 19-year-old Benjamin R. Repinski of Winona, was a passenger.
Brand said Repinski met the girl at a party and asked her to drive him home.
As she drove along County Road 12 near Witoka, she mistook the gas pedal for the brake and hit a highway sign, drove through a yard and into a garden.
Authorities said Repinski then got behind the wheel, started driving and struck a shed. He was cited for underage drinking and driving, underage drinking and allowing an unlicensed person to drive. All are misdemeanors.
A preliminary breath test showed that the girl, whose identity was withheld because of her age, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.09 percent, the sheriff's office said. She was taken to a hospital complaining of back and side pain and was released to her mother.
Meanwhile, a deputy on his way to the hospital to interview the girl saw a man on a moped driving wobbily on Hwy. 43 and wearing sunglasses in the pitch dark.
The deputy stopped the moped and cited Daniel G. Arndt, 21, of Winona, for driving while intoxicated. Arndt told the deputy that he was on his way to pick up his friend, Repinski, who had called him for a ride after the crash.
Brand said the girl refused to provide a blood sample at the hospital but could still be charged.
"It's unusual circumstances here," he said. "A 12-year-old driver; we don't get them every day."
Winona County authorities say a drunken man asked the youth to drive, and she crashed the car.
Barely old enough for junior high, a 12-year-old rural Minnesota girl may be charged with DWI, according to authorities.
She was at the wheel of a car that missed a curve Saturday in Winona County, according to Sheriff David Brand.
A deputy got a surprise when he asked the girl, whom he suspected of drinking, for her license. She said she didn't have one because she was only 12. The situation was even more remarkable considering that a licensed driver, 19-year-old Benjamin R. Repinski of Winona, was a passenger.
Brand said Repinski met the girl at a party and asked her to drive him home.
As she drove along County Road 12 near Witoka, she mistook the gas pedal for the brake and hit a highway sign, drove through a yard and into a garden.
Authorities said Repinski then got behind the wheel, started driving and struck a shed. He was cited for underage drinking and driving, underage drinking and allowing an unlicensed person to drive. All are misdemeanors.
A preliminary breath test showed that the girl, whose identity was withheld because of her age, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.09 percent, the sheriff's office said. She was taken to a hospital complaining of back and side pain and was released to her mother.
Meanwhile, a deputy on his way to the hospital to interview the girl saw a man on a moped driving wobbily on Hwy. 43 and wearing sunglasses in the pitch dark.
The deputy stopped the moped and cited Daniel G. Arndt, 21, of Winona, for driving while intoxicated. Arndt told the deputy that he was on his way to pick up his friend, Repinski, who had called him for a ride after the crash.
Brand said the girl refused to provide a blood sample at the hospital but could still be charged.
"It's unusual circumstances here," he said. "A 12-year-old driver; we don't get them every day."
