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Dad Who Let 9-Year-Old Drive Pleads Guilty

BROWNSTOWN TWP. (WWJ) - A downriver man who used his daughter as a designated driver has pleaded guilty to child abuse charges.

Shawn Weimer pled guilty on Monday to second-degree child abuse and to allowing an unlicensed minor to drive a motor vehicle.

Weimer's daughter testified about driving her father's van in the early morning hours of October 8 because, the girl said, her father had been drinking whiskey all night.

Police said the girl was behind the wheel — and in a child booster seat — when the full-size panel van was pulled over around 3 a.m. According to police, the girl said "What did you stop me for? I was driving good."

Weimer, who was immediately arrested, told police he was teaching his daughter how to drive.

Surveillance video from a Telegraph Road gas station shows Weimer explaining to the clerk that his child was his designated driver for the night.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in February.

- Catch up on this story and see the video at this link -

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