d the corner near her home. She looked out the window in time to see it slide to a stop onto her property. She rushed outside to see if anyone had been injured. When she opened the car door she found 24 year old Holly Schnobrich slumped in the passenger seat, while behind the wheel was Schnobrich’s 5 year old son, dressed in his pajamas. Barrett asked the barely conscious Schnobrich, “Is this toddler driving your car? Schnobrich responded, “He’s a good driver”. The driver’s 3 year old brother was ridding in the rear seat, next to two unused children’s car seats.*
Schnobrich pleaded with Barrett not to call the police, and then, when she made moves as if she were going to try and drive away, a neighbo
r grabbed the car keys. When the police arrived the boy assured them he was a “fine” driver, although he complained that his feet did not reach the pedals. Both boys were unharmed and in good health and placed in protective custody with Children’s Services. Their mother was arrested for two counts of public intoxication and neglect. She told police she had taken Percocet when the children got to be too much to handle. A 30 day prescription of sleeping pills was found in the car, almost empty. That label indicated Schnobrich had picked it up the day before.*
Yesterday, August 29th, during her arraignment on the current charges, it was revealed that Schnobrich had pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of operation a motor vehicle while intoxicated on August 21st. Her probation on that charge has now been revoked.
It’s probably no surprise that kids are increasingly familiar with the mechanics of dr
iving at an early age since studies show that the average mother spends 66 minutes every day driving the kids someplace – to and from school, doctor’s appointments, to friends houses – and where the moms go the kid’s go too. And in the case of one Buena, New Jersey nine year old, that experience lead to more than 70 runs with the law as he was caught driving a stolen lawn mower, 20 separate bicycles, a Ford Taurus and a school bus. After sealing the bus the boy managed to evade relatives who chased him on foot.*
Unfortunately this past January the adult neighbors who watched
a 9 year old girl from Little Ferry, New Jersey drive off in her parent’s Montero, with a 4 year old in the passenger’s seat, did nothing to stop her or alert the authorities. The car finally came to a halt when she crashed into a car driven by an 84 year old, in Hackensack.But the youthful offender who has achieved the greatest fame has to be 9 year old Semaj Booker, from Lakewood, W
ashington. He wanted to see his father, who lives in Dallas, Texas. In December he stole a car but crashed it in Tacoma, Washington. Then he stole a second car and got as far as Seattle before he ran out of gas. Then, in January, he stole an Acura and was spotted by local cops near I-5 and Highway 512. They gave chase, with speeds reaching 90 mph. The engine blew up as he exited on Ninth Street Northwest in Puyallup, Washington, and the coasting car hopped a curb and rolled into a tree. The cops had to break the window op
en to get him out, and after that adventure his mother left him in a shelter for several hours.*
So when he disappeared again his mom’s first call was to the local cops. But then she got a call that her son had been picked up…in San Antonio, Texas. Somehow
the 4’ 9” tall boy had gotten to the SeaTac airport, through security, and boarded a Southwest flight to Phoenix without a ticket, changed planes, and boarded a second flight for Texas, also without a ticket, and, if he had not boarded the wrong flight he would reached Dallas where he wanted to go, instead of San Antonio, where he had been caught.*
After giving the San Antonio cops a false name Semaj had ‘fessed up, and on Tuesday they sent him home. His mother says she wants to move the family to Dallas in a few months, but in the meantime she is thinking about shipping Semja off to her sister in Illinois.
*
I hope she lives nowhere near O’Hara.
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