Drunk Florida Grandparents Tow Granddaughter Behind SUV in a Plastic Hot Wheels Car

By Kyle Munzenrieder Tue., May 1 2012 at 10:35 AM

Two Sarasota grandparents found themselves behind bars after hitching their 7-year-old granddaughter's plastic Hot Wheels car to the back of their SUV and taking her for a ride. We could totally understand how, to a 7-year-old, this would seem like an awesome idea. But two adults probably should have known better -- and they definitely shouldn't have been drinking while pulling off the stunt.

Paul J. Berloni, 49, and Belinda Jean Berloni, 47, were watching their granddaughter for the day when they decided to latch two dog leashes and tie one end onto the trailer hitch of the SUV and the other to the toy car. Paul was driving the SUV, Belinda was in the back of the cargo area cheering the girl on, and their little granddaughter was in the toy car wearing a swimsuit, not protective gear. The SUV was driving 5 to 10 mph.

According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, someone saw the incident and called the police. After officers arrived, Paul admitted he had been drinking and that his driver's license was suspended. He has three previous DUIs.

Belinda and Paul Berloni

Belinda admitted she had also been drinking and "that she understood that it was dangerous to drag a child behind the vehicle, but stated they were just having fun and had been doing this all day," according to the arrest report.

The girl's father, Belinda's son, arrived and was upset with his mom.

Belinda was charged with child endangerment, as was Paul, who was also charged with DUI and driving with a suspended license.

[H/T to Random Pixels]

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mboroki

I think the parents did it wrong for leaving their kid with drunken grandparents. If they were not drunk and were using a trailer hitch instead of dog leashes, that would have been a different story. Think I would allow this because its fun being hit by the wind and you are assured their won't be a case of the leashes cutting in two

Caleb Fuller

Those little cars have a pretty wide wheel base given how much weight they carry, and if they were going 5 to 10 mp , the driver wasn't actually hitting the gas, just letting it roll forward in drive - to put it in simpler terms, the child was moving as fast as you walk or jog - I'd say this was unwise, but I'm not really convinced it was all that terribly dangerous. Kids don't wear helmets in running strollers, but they're not moving any faster or slower than the grandparent's car had been. Sorry folks, but this is a biased report. The man responded that he had been drinking - the article makes no mention of him having exceeded the legal limit, but reports it in such a way as to bias the reader against the old man, mentioning previous DUI's. This isn't bad parenting - it sounds more like cool grandparenting to me...but seriously, I wouldn't even have thought to do this with my kid. lol

Aquariazz1

Exacyly why did they have to pull it, usually toy cars like that run on a battery??? Were they that drunk?

Aquariazz1

*exactly

Buddyluvs2000

under 50 looking in their 60s? Police need to look into other types of abuses to this child and all other children exposed to the parents and grandparents.

Guest

Why are the police interfering with natural selection?

Joe

because it's not themselves they're going to kill.

Badtastic

My dad did this for me in Alaska with a sled tied to the trailor hitch. He wasn't drunk. It was fun. It's one of my favorite memories. He said "when I brake, catch the bumper"