Shawn Weimer appeared in court on Tuesday to face charges of second- and fourth-degree child abuse. He was also ordered to have no contact with his daughter, who is now living with her grandfather. Police could not find her mother.
At 3 a.m., a man ambled into a gas station in suburban Detroit, and it was clear he had been drinking. Surveillance video showed the suspect telling a gas station clerk that he has a designated driver - a pint-size designated driver.
The gas station surveillance camera caught the 9-year-old chauffeur alongside her drunk and dancing father as they headed back toward the big red van he uses for work. The clerk told the gas station manager:
"I was definitely very upset about it. I wasn't happy about the fact that someone would allow their daughter to be driving them around when they're under the influence," said Albert Abbas.
Someone else called 911 and said the girl was driving pretty well. When police pulled the van over they found a driver sitting on a booster seat who calmly explained her father had been drinking whiskey.
"She explained to me that he did let her drive before, operate the vehicle," said Lt. Robert Grant.
Grant said the girl seemed surprised when the officer who pulled her over asked how old she was.
"She actually engaged the uniformed officer and asked him why he was pulling her over, that she was driving pretty good," Grant said.
A family friend said Weimer was a good dad who did a stupid thing.
