<table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=480 border=0> <tbody> <tr> <td valign=top width=330> <table cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width=330 border=0> <tbody> <tr> <td valign=top align=left width=317>Boy, 7, Found Driving Lexus At Rush Hour
January 25, 2003
By ROSELYN TANTRAPHOL, Courant Staff Writer
EAST HARTFORD -- It was the first 7-year-old East Hartford police ever stopped for driving without a license.
Cruising along Burnside Avenue shortly after 6 p.m. Friday, Sgt. James Leonard noticed that a black four-door Lexus was weaving a bit. Leonard kept his eye on the car, passed on the left, and did a double take when he turned his head.
"I couldn't believe what I saw - a little kid," Leonard said. "His head was about even with the edge of the window."
Ultimately, the driver's father, Kitson Brown, 36, was charged with risk of injury to a minor, reckless driving and allowing a minor under 16 to operate a vehicle. Leonard said Brown explained that he had let his son drive home from soccer practice at East Hartford Middle School.
Leonard made a U-turn and pulled the Lexus over, but said he could not see the driver as he approached the car on foot from behind. Brown was visible in the passenger seat, the officer said.
Father and son had gotten about a mile into the ride to their Phelps Street home when they were stopped.
No one was injured - but the incident became a lesson the father wasn't expecting to learn himself, the officer said.
"You've got a 7-year-old operating a motor vehicle on Burnside Avenue during rush hour traffic. Not a good idea," Leonard said.
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