Arizona dad arrested after he let his 10-year-old son drive his truck at a high speed on freeway
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA: A Phoenix father is in custody after he allowed his 10-year-old son to take the wheel of his truck on an Arizona freeway.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) responded to a 911 call reporting a young boy driving a red truck on Loop 101 around 3.30 pm on Saturday, September 1 afternoon.
DPS trooper attempted to stop truck
The caller described the truck as weaving and speeding, traveling westbound near Scottsdale Road.
A DPS trooper located the truck and attempted to stop it after witnessing unsafe lane changes by the driver. However, the driver failed to yield, leading to a pursuit by DPS.
The pursuit concluded when the truck finally pulled over into the emergency lane of the 7th Street off-ramp. The trooper confirmed that the 10-year-old boy had been behind the wheel, with his father, 49-year-old Alvaro Ovando Alvarez, in the passenger seat.
Alvarez was subsequently arrested and faced several charges, including aggravated DUI, child abuse, endangerment, possession of an open container of alcohol, and unlawfully permitting a minor to operate a vehicle, according to FOX 10 Phoenix.
Child will face no legal consequences
Remarkably, the child was not subjected to legal consequences for his involvement in the incident. The DPS initiated the pursuit after receiving a report about the truck before 3.40 pm, following the officer's observation of the vehicle's unsafe lane changes, which violated traffic laws.
"The driver stopped in the right emergency lane at milepost 26, prior to the 7th Street off-ramp, at approximately 3.47 pm," DPS spokesperson Raul Garcia told Fox News Digital.
The pursuit commenced at 3.44 pm and concluded merely three minutes later when the truck stopped in the right emergency lane near milepost 26, just before the 7th Street off-ramp.
Subsequently, Alvarez, the father, was arrested and taken into custody, eventually booked into the 4th Avenue Jail in Phoenix.
As of now, no further details about the incident are available, leaving questions unanswered about the circumstances surrounding the child's dangerous and reckless driving.