A Friday morning that probably started like any other in Santa Rosa’s quiet Burbank Avenue neighborhood took a sharp turn when a car ended up in a ditch and wrapped around a utility pole. When police arrived just after 9:30 a.m., they found the driver. He was 15 years old, had no license, and had been drinking.
Santa Rosa police responded to the intersection of Burbank Avenue and Liana Drive after reports of a crash and found the teenager as the sole occupant of the vehicle. He was taken to the hospital for medical evaluation and later released into his mother’s custody. That last detail carries its own particular weight when you stop and think about it.
The charges filed against the teen include driving under the influence and driving without a license. Two separate offenses that most adults have managed to avoid their entire driving lives. For a 15-year-old, pulling them off simultaneously before 10 in the morning is, to put it generously, a lot…