Alleged drunk driver, 19, fatally strikes, drags 2-year-old riding tricycle on Florida street as horrified family watches: cops

A 19-year-old is being charged with DUI manslaughter after allegedly running over a 2-year-old and dragging him and his tricycle in a gated Florida community Monday as his horrified family watched, authorities said.

According to harrowing details from the affidavit obtained by ClickOrlando, Joshua Montero “appeared to drag the child and the bicycle” a few feet before the truck came to a halt.

The tot’s mother said she and her husband were standing in their driveway as their children were riding their bikes in the street in front of their house on the Labor Day holiday when she heard and saw the speeding truck, ClickOrlando said of the affidavit.

She and her husband began to yell at the driver to slow down when the truck continued toward the cul-de-sac, according to the affidavit.

In a perfect world, you'd be absolutely right. Parents should watch out for their children at all times - but kids are kids and no matter how carefully you school them in the dangers of this world, they often ignore/forget/flout any and all instructions.

We lived in a suburb of Los Angeles and we were a family of ten kids (I'm the oldest) and my father worked until late in the evening. Our mother was asthmatic and overwhelmed with us - and we boys, all four of us, went where we went and did what we did. We had fields to explore, buddies to accompany us, and projects to work on. We even built a kind of Soapbox Derby cart that we would take turns rolling down the steep hill on the street by our homes at crazy speeds - sometimes losing control on the turn at the bottom, and flying into a storm drain! As boys, we had an overabundance of energy and creativity and limited fear.

We all survived and went on to even riskier stuff (Motorycles - and my number two brother and I were both severely wounded in Vietnam).

My point is, that not everyone has the money and the ability to move far out in the country and escape - so our young ones need to be protected from impaired/reckless/distracted drivers in residential areas. As we used to say in the Marine Corps: "nothing is foolproof, because fools are so damned ingenious". We are the adults and we are responsible to drive attentively and with care when in residential areas.

P.S.: flying free-flight models is a real pain when very few fields are nearby. Lost of lot of models to hostile telephone lines and roofs!

Happy that I lost my bet...

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