Father charged after 12 year old daughter kills man and dog with suv

[Demovictory9]

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/08/18/us/houston-car-death-charges-trnd/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F

A 12-year-old girl hit a man and his dog with an SUV in Houston, killing them instantly, police said. Her father has been arrested and charged with criminal negligent homicide and endangering a child.

Tomas Mejia Tol's daughter was driving the Ford Explorer around an apartment complex Thursday evening, police said in a statement. At the time, a 2-year-old was in the backseat of the vehicle, according to CNN affiliate KTRK-TV.

"The child (driver) began to pull forward from a parking space as a man was walking with his dogs through the parking lot," police said. "When the child pressed the accelerator pedal, the Ford moved forward at a high rate of speed, struck the man, one of his dogs and then a tree."

The man and one dog were pronounced dead at the scene and the girl's father was detained.



Prosecutors said he told investigators he was the one driving, but they later found out it was the girl. Police did not release additional information on the victim, but said he was 46. Information on the suspect's attorney was not immediately available.

[Beakybird]

1. My daughter always begged me to let her drive in a lot before 16.

I always refused. Glad I did!

[Codeine]

6. An empty parking lot

at 6am on a Sunday is generally fine. My 15-yr-old daughter and I go to a closed Sears just as the sun comes up and have the place entirely to ourselves.

[ProudLib72]

7. I learned to drive a stick in an empty parking lot

I was 11. College parking lot on a weekend during Xmas break.

[Codeine]

8. Sad to say my wife would have to teach me

to drive a stick before I could teach the kid.

[ProudLib72]

9. Very few cars are stick nowadays

There really isn't a point in teaching a kid how to drive stick. My niece just turned 16. She went through driver's ed and had a learner's permit all last year. I kept thinking about how she ought to learn to drive stick. Then I realized I had the only car with a stick, and that was just because I opted to swap out the automatic transmission.

[NutmegYankee]

15. I just bought a 2019 model with stick.

Been driving nothing but them for 23 years now. I get bored driving an automatic and I hate that they don't slow down much when you let off the gas. I do like the new features that get added these days to standard transmissions, like the off-road mode that handles hill descent without using the brakes.

[ProudLib72]

17. I agree. I must have a stick.

I really hate the lag before an auto shifts down or up. It's really noticeable on a 4 cylinder. Even my dad's brand new CR-V shifts strangely. With higher horsepower I guess it wouldn't be as bad, but I would still want a stick.

One time I got stuck with a dead battery in an Autozone parking lot. Two guys came out to push, and we popped the clutch in reverse in about 20'. Can't do that with an auto!

[a la izquierda]

25. Well of course there is.

Your niece could move to-oh anywhere else in the world- and then she wouldn’t have a choice. My friends worldwide think it’s so weird that Americans only drive manual. I tell them it’s unlikely my car will get stolen.
I only drive manual. I hate automatic cars.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. You must mean that your friends worldwide

think it's weird that Americans only drive automatics.

I'm with you. I hate automatics. I'm 71 years old and have only ever driven cars with manual transmissions. Unless I've rented a car, and I truly hate it that I cannot in this country rent one with a stick shift. When I can no longer drive a stick, it will be time for me to give up driving.

[ProudLib72]

37. There are still some cars that are offered in manual, but the dealerships don't stock them

I've run into that problem a few times. I can't stand that the dealerships get to make the choice.

Again, if I were driving a V8 as a daily driver, I would probably go with auto. My parents had a Tundra with the smaller V8, and it would barely break a sweat going up mountain passes where my 4 cylinder would have me shifting into third.

You don't see many V8s in Europe, though. Not like you see them here as daily drivers.

[Bettie]

30. We taught both of our older boys

to drive stick.

I learned when my then-boyfriend (now husband of nearly 30 years) had a knee injury and couldn't shift his old, ugly, but unkillable Chevette!

They learned on our old Civic hybrid. Biggest one is still driving it at 250k miles and counting.

[Doc_Technical]

2. If a young teen wants to drive a vehicle,

you go to an empty parking lot early Sunday morning.

[alittlelark]

4. I took my daughter to White Sands to learn

Great visibility and no one around for miles. Plus there was nothing she could hit and hurt the car with !!

[Codeine]

5. I do this every weekend.

No cars anywhere and loads of empty, open space to roll around in and get a feel for the act of driving. You don’t do that shit in an apartment complex. Goddamned idiot has ended a man’s existence and given that poor little girl and the victim’s family a lifetime of pain just because he was too goddamned lazy to go to Sears.

[LisaL]

20. No. First the teen gets to take the written exam. Then you can legally take the teen driving.

You might think it's an empty parking lot, but you don't know if some going is going to be their walking his dog.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. You still don't take them to that parking lot if they are not

old enough to qualify for a learner's permit in your state.

[aikoaiko]

3. I've left my adolescent son in a parked running car, especially in the summer for the AC...

...as I ran back into the house or into a convenience store.

[MuseRider]

10. My dad taught me out in the country.

Out there there was little to worry about. He pulled all the usual tricks, "Look at that" and if I looked he would grab the wheel before the car went in a ditch. I learned really well. My mother took me out once, we went to the lake very early and as she was going to the spot we were going to change seats she was stopped for speeding, 30 in a 25 around the lake. She did not ever take me out again.

I took my kids to the country and to parking lots. They were not 12 they were 15 and 16. Good grief, please tell me that they are not letting 12 year olds get a learners permit. This was just stupid.

[LisaL]

23. I think it's pretty obvious she didn't have a permit or her father wouldn't be charged.

[Raine]

11. My aunt let me drive her Cadillac when I was around 12yr

my grandmother had a fit at both of us when she found out!

[treestar]

12. Tragic, and for her to have to

to live with that is awful. He should have taken her to an empty lot. And not let her move at all if there was any pedestrian anywhere near - or other car.

[LisaL]

21. He shouldn't have taken her anywhere. At 12 it is illegal for her to be learning how to drive.

Now the man is dead.

[treestar]

29. Agree; even if you do that in an empty lot, they

should be 15/16 and have their permit.

[Talitha]

13. My Dad taught me to drive in a Cemetary.

It's where most of the kids in my neighborhood learned to drive.
There, and the church parking lot on the weekends, after the services were finished.

I can't imagine the dad allowing his child to drive when there was pedestrian activity.

[lunasun]

14. Victim

Link to tweet

?s=21

[Demovictory9]

24. thx for more details about victim

[NutmegYankee]

16. My Father let me drive a ford escort around the block when I was 12.

He taught me how to take off without stalling and then helped me shift the gears. We had just rebuilt the engine, and I treasure the whole experience. It's very cool at 12 to have actually helped reassemble an engine and then drive the car. He always told me I needed to learn this stuff (like fixing cars) because he wouldn't always be around to do it for me. I never thought however that it'd be just 9 years later...

[Ilsa]

18. She killed a man. She'll have to live with that

forever because her father wouldn't tell her "No." I'm glad he's being prosecuted.

[uponit7771]

19. Apartment complex is the wrong place to teach teens to drive, damn traggic

[LisaL]

22. Any place is a wrong place for a 12 year old to be driving.

It's illegal. She obviously hasn't passed the written portion of the test so presumably she doesn't know the rules. She is too young. There is a reason 12 year old aren't allowed to drive.

[Codeine]

32. It isn't actually illegal on private property.

I could drive at 11, but we lived in the country and pedestrians weren’t really a thing.

An apartment complex is madness.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

26. You don't let a 12 year old drive. Period.

No excuses.

Some years ago I recall a parent being quite annoyed because a local driving school would not take her 13 year old daughter. Because that was a year or more before the legal driving age in our state. The mom thought that learning sooner was better. She was wrong. Learning a bit later is far better.

Around that time frame an insurance salesman I knew told me that in states where kids were allowed/licensed to drive earlier, had far higher accident rates for 21 year olds than states that didn't allow/license driving until a few years later. Hmmm.

As for driving a stick. It's all I have ever driven. I HATE it when I rent a car and am forced into an automatic. They simply aren't safe. They're especially unsafe for a new driver, who learns that all you have to do is aim the car and step on the gas. There is no other function involved. In reality, the skills involved in shifting are crucial.

My older son (who has Asperger's which is probably important here) had a difficult time learning to drive. First off, he wasn't very interested in learning. Around the time he was 20, back at home after flunking out of college, now taking classes at the local junior college, needed to learn to drive. I was not about to continue driving him back and forth to school every day. I tried to teach him on my car, a standard transmission, stick shift. No luck. He could not pay attention to the many thing he needed to pay attention to. So I acquired (simplifying a long story here) a car with an automatic transmission, and he was good. Could go back and forth to school.

A couple of months later he came to me and said, "Mom, can I try driving your car?" He nailed it. He'd learned the basics of driving and could now handle the complications of a stick shift.

I do want to add that at this point he wasn't a very good driver, and I dreaded being in the car if he was driving.

A couple of years later he came to me and said, "Mom, I'd like to get a new car, one with a stick shift. Will you be willing to help me buy one?" I was, and I did. And somewhat to my surprise he was a far better driver now that he was driving a car with a standard transmission. In fact, a couple of years ago on a visit to Portland, OR, he did an incredible job of navigating those narrow streets with aplomb. Wow.

I'm a bit hesitant to say this, but I think that driving a car with a standard transmission can make a far better driver. Okay, I really do understand why many people prefer an automatic. But I think that everyone ought to know how to drive a stick shift.

Lucky me. Most people cannot shift. I feel incredibly safe from car jacking. Oh, and this is highly personal, but some years ago I decided that when I can no longer drive a stick shift it will be time to give up driving entirely.

I'm 71 years old and still going strong.

[moriah]

33. People are entitled to their opinions regarding standard or automatic...

But two things make me not judge people who only drive automatics.

1) Mom decided to try to teach me in a stick -- in a hilly parking lot vs flat. And freaking out. So I said "No, don't teach me", let that permit expire, didn't get another permit until I was 18, found the place where I could take the easiest driving test (literally drive around the block), and taught myself in the automatic I'd saved up to buy. Lots of drives at night when few cars were on the road, etc. And given our state is rural, I learned to watch for deer!

2) My dud ankle is my left ankle. I've sprained it so many times I can't count them, and finally had to have a surgery to re-anchor the ligaments. Also dislocated my left kneecap If I'd had a stick when I had to get around during recovery, I'd have been up shift creek without a extra foot (or trying to use the crutch on the clutch... not a good idea either way!).

I *can* drive a stick -- and have, when I was the only licensed driver who could get someone's car outta car jail. Despite never having driven one outside of that one terrible and traumatic parking lot experience, I knew the mechanics, and drove well enough that the owner wasn't mad at me over any grinded gears, and didn't stall.

So I'd still keep your doors locked while your car is in motion (if your model doesn't do that already automatically) and lock up, even with a stick. They aren't *that* hard if someone is really determined.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

34. Personally, I dislike cars that lock automatically.

I had that function disabled on my recently purchased FIT. I am capable of deciding if I need to lock the car doors, thank you very much. I do always lock it when parked somewhere other than in my garage.

Oh, I recognize that there are people who for some physical reason simply cannot drive a stick. And I understand why many others prefer an automatic. What I like about a stick is that I am in much better control of the car, especially in iffy conditions.

What most astonishes me is that the very vast majority of drivers of automatics never downshift, even when it would be prudent to do so, such as going down a steep hill, or if the road is a bit slick. Apparently they think there are exactly two driving gears: Forward and Reverse.

[moriah]

35. I like the ones that lock when you get over 10 mph in speed.

Insofar as carjacking prevention, it means that if you're stopped at a red light, your door is already locked. Yeah, it may be a PITA to have to hit the unlock button when you're picking someone up, but I was happy when I saw the feature in my 2012 Civic.

Was also helpful when I was roommate to a family with young kids, especially when they decided to engage the parental lock. Yeah, I had to hit the button twice when we got home to unlock the back doors, but as they weren't my kids but it was my car so my car insurance if they managed to unlock/open it while the vehicle was in motion... I was allll for it, though I un-kid-moded them when I moved out.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

36. When my kids were very young we had

the kid locks on the back doors. Actually, probably all of my recent cars have had that feature and I just didn't use it after they were six or so.

Somehow, I don't really worry about someone trying to carjack my car when I'm at a red light. Maybe it's because that's a crime that is extremely rare in Santa Fe, where I live. Although car theft in general is an ongoing problem here. This is a city where almost no one uses the garage for their car. The vast majority park on the street and store all their excess crap in the garage. Me? I use the garage for my car.

I've never driven a car someone like that would want. I currently have a 2017 Fit. Before that it was a 2004 Honda Civic I got in 2007. Before that a Subaru Outback. I'll spare you the full list of all my cars. But I'm pretty sure that any potential thief would immediately stall out the car, because remember it's a manual transmission, and be unable to restart it.

I did a quick bit of research online and learned that older (as in 1990s era) Honda Civics and Accords are the two most stolen cars in this country. Hmmm. My son on the east coast drives a 1996 Civic. I need to advise him to purchase a newer vehicle of some kind.

[Bettie]

31. She shouldn't have been driving at all

and now she's killed someone and will have to live with that for the rest of her life.

When my kids were 14 and had their learning permits, we only drove in large empty parking lots early in the morning to avoid any mishaps until we thought they were ready. We also took them out there in the snow to practice what to do if you start to slide.

My two big kids are good drivers, the third is only ten, so not so much yet!