Calif mom gave 15 yr old keys to Dodge Challenger to run to store. He fled cops at 100mph killing 1

[Demovictory9]

Killing passenger. Don't hand over car keys to unlicensed 15 yr old

California mom, 45, charged after teen son allegedly causes fatal crash

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/california-mom-charged-teen-fatal-crash-18371670.php

A California mother has been charged with child cruelty after her 15-year-old son allegedly caused a fatal car crash, police said.


In June, an officer from the Bakersfield Police Department said they witnessed a Dodge Challenger driving through the grass at Polo Park. When the officer attempted to pull over the car, police said the driver fled. The driver apparently lost control of the Challenger and crashed into a tree on Noriega Road, injuring himself and three teen passengers who were inside, police said.

Media coverage at the time reported that a teenage boy in the front passenger seat was critically injured in the collision. Now, police have revealed one occupant of the vehicle died.


According to police reports reviewed by KGET, the 15-year-old unlicensed driver raced away from the scene at up to 100 mph. After crashing into a tree, the police reports say a boy in the front passenger seat had to be rescued from the car by a responding officer; the teen later died after incurring head trauma in the crash. The driver has not been identified because he is a minor.

The alleged driver's mother has also been charged in connection with the fatal crash. According to Kern County court records, the 45-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of willful cruelty to a child, a felony, and allowing an unlicensed person to operate a vehicle, a misdemeanor. KGET reported that she "gave her 15-year-old son the keys to her Dodge Challenger with the expectation he would only make a quick trip to the market and come straight home.".

[RKP5637]

1. WTF!

[enid602]

2. cigs

Was he able to pick up the cigs for her?

[Demovictory9]

3. Seems he picked up three friends instead

[LiberalFighter]

4. I hope her insurance doesn't cover repair or replacement of vehicle

And they increase the premiums

[raccoon]

18. I hope the victim's family sues her drawers off.

[former9thward]

20. And what would they get?

[MichMan]

26. Everything she has ?

Why not?

[former9thward]

27. One thing they teach you in law school is that most people are judgement proof.

What that means is it costs more money to sue them than what you ever could get. If you are thinking cars and houses, no. Courts will not make someone homeless or car less.

[MichMan]

28. Almost impossible to get people to pay it anyway

I wish the former mayor would pay the City of Detroit the $854k in restitution he agreed upon per a plea bargain, and the IRS another $192k. So far has only paid around $5k towards it. I'm pretty certain the City could use the money.

[inthewind21]

37. Sadly

No they will not. They will get the insurance limits and nothing more.

[Quakerfriend]

5. suspicion of willful cruelty???

How about vehicular homicide!!

[TexasDem69]

15. Wouldn't that require intent?

[MichMan]

17. She let an unlicensed driver drive

How much more intent do you need?

[TexasDem69]

19. Proof of actual intent.

Not internet speculation.

[MichMan]

24. If I gave my car keys to someone who was falling down drunk, intent would be assumed

It isn't necessary to prove they actually intended to kill someone

[inthewind21]

38. No

It would not. Court cases aren't prosecuted on assumptions.

[MichMan]

40. So in your legal opinion, she is immune from facing charges

Why is it that the parents of Ethen Crumbly are being charged with involuntary manslaughter in the Oxford, Michigan school shooting?

You would think the courts would dismiss the case since they can't prove they knew he was going to shoot anyone that day.

Give a loaded gun to a 6 year old. "Not my fault; I didn't know he would shoot anyone with it"

Giving your keys to a drunk driver and they hit a family head on killing them. "Not my fault; I didn't know that would happen"

Drag racing down a crowded street at 100 mph and striking pedestrians; "I didn't intend on hitting anyone"

The law most certainly holds people liable criminally for just those types of crimes and people are convicted for doing so. I take it you believe none of them should have faced any charges.

[LeftInTX]

42. His mother is a sixth-grade teacher....

There are just certain populations who should know better.

[magicarpet]

6. Mother was feeding her fragile ego and the son's fragile ego.

Hot muscle car, hot kid, hot mom - while the world stood by in complete and absolute envy.

It is an innocent fun time and all just a neighborhood ego boosting show for Mom and kid.

What could possibly go wrong here ?
Loosen up. Have some fun.

[malaise]

7. Ma didn't want to,go to the store

Criminal indeed

[Snooper9]

35. how do you know she was hot, probably just fucking lazy

And she was probably cheap and had the v6 LOL

[magicarpet]

36. Hot,... meaning she was thinking she was the envy of the entire neighborhood..

The mother, the car, and the son. Thinking everyone drooled at the thought of being them.

Hip and hot,.. the talk of the neighborhood,... until crash, bang, boom. Now they are fucked beyond their worst imaginings.

Think before you act upon your selfish desires.

[LeftInTX]

43. She is pretty from the side. She's a teacher.

https://www.wascotrib.com/story/2020/08/20/news/a-teacher-describes-her-distance-learning-day/1672.html

[MarineCombatEngineer]

8. Giving any teen, whether licensed or not, the keys to a Dodge Challenger

is highly stupid and dangerous considering the power of the Challenger, especially if it has the Hell Cat engine in it.

Even I, as a highly experienced driver, am scared to death of the Challenger, way too much power, especially for an inexperienced driver.

I hope to hell she's convicted and sentenced to the harshest penalty available for this crime.

[ruet]

44. Sensationalism.

I'd be willing to bet it was a V-6 version. It can still do over 100 but what car can't.

[Calista241]

54. I seriously doubt it had the hellcat engine.

That's an $80k car minimum, and she's a teacher. Not to say she can't be secretly rich, but it's unlikely.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

56. Fair point.

I test drove a Challenger with the Hell Cat engine and 1/2 through the test drive, I stopped the car and turned it over to the dealer employee and told him to drive me back to the lot because it scared the hell out of me with it's power.

[dalton99a]

9. Idiot mom identified

Candie Springer, the boy’s mother, is facing a felony child cruelty charge and a misdemeanor charge of allowing an unlicensed driver to operate a motor vehicle. She’s free on $20,500 bail and has a preliminary hearing scheduled next month.

Springer, 45, told police no one was supposed to be in the car with her son, according to the reports filed in Superior Court.

The teen, whose name is redacted from the reports, is charged in juvenile court with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and fleeing the scene, among other related offenses, according to the District Attorney’s office. He has a hearing scheduled later this month.

He admitted to being “dumb” and driving recklessly, the reports say.

https://www.kget.com/news/crime-watch/mother-charged-in-fatal-crash-after-allowing-son-15-to-drive-docs/

[usonian]

10. To me, there some issues involved other than the obvious ones

A lot of injuries and deaths are the results of police chases. Will cars that are controllable via electronic signals (like Tesla) be stoppable, or stopped by police?

There are, of course, upsides and downsides to any technology, and the cat's already out of the bag with some vehicles. And in a nasty way. Features that are built into autos can be remotely enabled or disabled (for money). And they can be hacked.

OTOH, lives can be saved.

Can tech leaders be trusted, and can police be trusted? Hmmmm.

They "have the power"

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

16. Already happens

OnStar has the ability to slow down a vehicle and stop it. No clue on how often it's utilized though.

[MichMan]

25. Isnt OnStar specific to General Motors products?

Not Stellantis?

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

31. Yea, OnStar is GM specific

Though I think every major automaker has their own similar system. Whether they have the ability to slow the vehicles down is unknown to me. I know Hyundai's system used to, but they stopped supporting it a couple years ago. I was just pointing out that the technology exists and has been around for over a decade now.

[Zeitghost]

11. My mom used to do the same

But it was a '91 Escort Wagon.

[Demovictory9]

21. I owned an Escort. Had to turn off the AC to climb hills

No way would an Escort reach 100 mph

[maxsolomon]

50. Before you were licensed to drive?

Once I had mine it was endless trips in the Chevette to get milk.

[Zeitghost]

51. Yes

No license. She was a single mom of three. Probably wasn't the greatest decision at the time.

[Zeitghost]

55. Yes

No license. She was a single mom of three. Probably wasn't the greatest decision at the time.

[Polybius]

12. Parents trust their teens waaaaaaaaay too much

Nothing is worse than the parent who says "my kid would never do that." But even if she knew 100% that he would go there and back and drive slow, you don't ever give the car keys to anyone without a license, especially a minor.

[ecstatic]

33. +1000.

Z-gen boys of that age are really good at manipulating their moms into thinking they are responsible angels. Trust me, they have a double life. You have to snoop to learn the truth, unfortunately.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. I have always been disgusted at how many parents

have no problem letting their underage, unlicensed kid drive the car. I may be the only parent I know who adamantly did not do that.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. You Were Not The Only One

I actually know not a single person whose parents let them drive before they had a license. (Excluding those of us who drove with mom or dad in the car on a learner's permit.)
Maybe it's more common now, I don't know.
I don't see it around here though, and this is a small, modest traffic town.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. I suppose it varies a lot from place to place, state to state.

We lived in a Kansas suburb of Kansas City, MO, when my sons were in those learning to drive years. I'd say at least half of the parents I knew allowed the kids do drive when they weren't actually legal.

I once had an insurance guy tell me that the states that had younger ages of licensing drivers, also had noticeably more car accidents with young, legal drivers, than those that delayed licensing. Somehow I am not surprised.

[moonshinegnomie]

32. same in the suburbs of chicago

a lot of kids were allowed to drive by their parents at 14 or 15

[DFW]

34. We never did that either, and the driving age is 18 here.

Our girls not only took driver's ed, but I went with them to one of the special courses that most towns have here for parents to practice driving with their kids when they have learner's permits. Since both our cars were stick shifts, our girls needed supplemental practice in learning how to drive them. Back in the seventies, I taught my wife how to drive one, too, as she wasn't familiar with them yet. Despite the fact that most Germans drive like maniacs, they do not, and they have never yet had a moving violation.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

39. All I have ever voluntarily driven is a stick shift.

I hate it when I need to rent a car because I do not like and don't trust automatics.

My older son could not initially master a stick, and so we acquired an automatic for him so he could finally learn to drive (at age 20) and be able do drive himself places. He's on the spectrum, and just could not pay attention to the several things all at once he needed to be able to do. After he'd been driving for a couple of months he came to me and asked if he could try driving my car again. Sure. He then mastered the whole shifting thing easily. About a year later he asked if I'd help him buy a stick shift car. Yep.

He was a much better driver on the stick shift than on the automatic, which I would never have predicted. Recently he decided to replace his 1999 Honda Civic, and of course wanted a stick. Turned out they are almost impossible to get. He'd contact dealerships in his area (Washington DC, so lots of dealerships) that would have a stick shift car posted on their website, and when he'd go over, the vehicle had been sold. I suspect there's a far greater demand for them than the manufacturers are willing to admit.

I never worry about my car being stolen because the vast majority of car thieves would not be able to drive it.

[DFW]

41. It used to be that a stick shift was all you could get here

They used to get better gas mileage than automatics, and with the price of gas here, that meant a lot to the Europeans. But now, the automatics get about the same as the stick shifts, so the stick shifts are slowly fading into history. I don't like or trust automatics much, either, but it's fast becoming the case that nothing else is available. I may be on my last stick shift car right now. I bought my first one back in 1979, in Framingham, Massachusetts. A LOT of water has been flowing under the bridge since then!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

46. I long ago decided that when I could no longer manage a stick,

it would be time to give up driving. At 75 I can tell I'm not as good a driver as I used to be. I just wish we had better public transportation here in Santa Fe.

[DFW]

48. Our public transportation here in Europe might seem better, and it often is,

But the constant delays, cancellations, breakdowns and strikes often force a lot people right back into their cars and onto the roads, where they try so diligently NOT to be. In the three weeks since I have been back over here, I have been to Holland twice, Belgium three times (four if you count this coming week), France twice (three times, if you count tomorrow), and central or southern Germany three times. Plus, I went downtown to Düsseldorf and back by commuter train once. I have done EVERY SINGLE TRIP by train, and I have not departed or arrived on schedule ONCE. I will fly when I have to run down to Spain, and will probably fly down to Zürich in October, though I will probably take a train back if I have nothing pressing to do that Sunday.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

52. Oh, dear.

Have you any idea why the trains there are having such problems?

I'm a huge fan of Amtrak in this country, but they don't have enough routes. I go to some s-f things in Colorado Springs and Denver, and you'd think I could take the train from here to each of those cities. Nope. I'd have to go to either Chicago or Los Angeles and then to Denver or Colorado Springs. They do go from here (actually the nearest station is in Lamy, about 15 miles south of Santa Fe) to Kansas City, and I've taken the train there several times, and will do it again at the end of this month. It's overnight, so I book a roomette.

[DFW]

57. I have a pretty good idea.

My wife, who is German, is sure of it.

The German railways do not plan for problems, because it costs money. So, they wait for problems to arise, and fix them in a half-hearted, patchwork fashion, until the next crisis arises, which is usually soon. No more long-term strategic planning, like in the old days. Thirty years or so ago, someone got the idea that it would be a good idea to build a new train route with hi-speed tracks, from Köln to Frankfurt via a direct route through the Sauerland. It took years and many billions but the trip is now about an hour instead of two and a half. The old scenic route along the Rhein is still there, but only tourists take it nowadays.

One thing that infuriates many in Germany is that members of Parliament are allowed to sit on the boards if large corporations. I guess the original logic behind that was to have government in close contact with the private sector in order to work together efficiently. Unfortunately, this is Europe, where government bureaucracy is always bloated to three times as big as it needs to be, and efficiency is a dirty word. Taxes have to be very high to finance this. When the people most affected by high taxes have people who enact the taxes sitting in on their board meetings, it is easier to get the ones writing the tax laws to give breaks to the hands that feed them.

[LeftInTX]

23. Entitled mom is a sixth grade teacher in Kern County!!!

https://www.wascotrib.com/story/2020/08/20/news/a-teacher-describes-her-distance-learning-day/1672.html

The Richland School District had planned to begin in-person schooling on Aug. 6, but that was before Governor Newsom restricted school districts to distance learning in counties on the state's watch list. That made it necessary for Kern County schools to teach via the internet.



The school day begins for sixth-grade teacher Candie Springer by logging on to their classroom, while the students log on to join the class, followed by roll call. Roll is taken by the students un-muting their microphones announcing "here," with their picture popping up on the screen. Each student is equipped with a laptop with a camera that enables them to see their teacher and each other, giving the students a sense of togetherness.
....
The class has reading time where Mrs. Springer leads the class in reading their book together, then answering questions about the

The entire article is about her!!! It's from 2021.

She deserves to have the book thrown at her!!!

She knows better!!!

[Demovictory9]

29. Wow..a teacher made that decision..ruined her life and his

[LeftInTX]

30. It's disgusting!

[MichMan]

58. What difference does it make if she is a teacher ?

So what?

[LeftInTX]

59. She would know better than someone addicted to meth in a trailer.

[FakeNoose]

45. Parents cannot be "buddies" to their kids - parents must be "parents" at all times

I raised a son too, and he made it through his teenage years without any major fuckups. His father and I agreed on one thing - even though we were no longer married, we were both going to be responsible and loving parents to our son.

Being a loving parent is taking responsibility for your child and his upbringing. Setting a good example is part of it, but saying "no" to your kid is also part of it. What we have currently are a lot of adults who grew up with no parent taking responsibility for them, and now they have no idea how to raise their own kids.

Once your child has reached majority and has shown that he or she can take responsibility for themselves, it's a different story. Parents can ease up on the authority-bit and start treating their kids as friends and peers. But they need to be well into their 20s and have taken some initiative on showing good judgment on their own.

Nowadays my son is married and raising a son of his own, who is 16 and learning to drive. I'm quite proud of how awesome a Dad my son has turned out to be. (And my daughter-in-law is also a great Mom.)

[LeftInTX]

49. In this case, mom is a 6th grade teacher!

[Rob H.]

47. One of my cousins was killed in a similar accident

He was out with his grandparents, riding in the backseat, when a 14-year-old whose mom had given him the keys to their minivan to go get milk ran a stop sign and hit their car broadside. I'm not sure what happened to that's kid's parents.

[Demovictory9]

53. So horrible..i cant imagine handing keys to unlicensed 14 yr old