WHEN MOTOCROSS GUYS MAKE THE NATIONAL NEWS IT’S NOT ALWAYS A GOOD THING

On Jun 30, 2011

According to the Victorville Daily Press: A man is behind bars after directing his girlfriend’s 11-year-old son to drive a vehicle, resulting in the child’s reckless driving escapade on Interstate 15 and Highway 395. At around 12:52 p.m. Sunday the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Victor Valley station received a call of a reckless child driver headed northbound on Highway 395 from I-15. Deputy Michelle Morgan found the vehicle on the 395 north of Seneca Drive and conducted a traffic stop.

Another vehicle driving in front of the child driver also pulled over, but it took off and headed north on the 395 before Morgan could contact its driver. Officials later found out the second driver was Terry Michael Varner, the boyfriend of the 11-year-old’s mother, and he had asked the boy to drive the vehicle.

The vehicle the child was driving was towed and the child was taken to the Victor Valley sheriff’s station, where officials called his mother and Child Protective Services. The boy was later released to his mother.

Varner, 51, was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and booked into Victor Valley Jail. The Victorville District Attorney charged Varner with willful cruelty to a child resulting in possible injury or death. He’s being held on $100,000 bail.