HONESDALE – A Wayne County Jury convicted a Dunmore man of allowing his 11-year-old daughter drive his vehicle from Covington Township in Lackawanna County to Salem Township in Wayne County. Sean Hannon, 49, was convicted on two felonies and four misdemeanors, following approximately an hour of deliberations.
District Attorney Patrick L. Robinson offered evidence at trial showing that the Defendant allowed his daughter to drive approximately 10 miles from his house on Drinker Turnpike to the intersection of SR 690 and Neville Road in Salem Township, Wayne County. The Defendant’s eight-year-old son was a passenger.
The Defendant directed his daughter’s driving, which eventually resulted in her running up under a pine tree. Hannon’s BAC was .228%.
He attempted to extricate the vehicle from the pine tree branches but was prevented from doing so by a Good Samaritan who grabbed the vehicle keys from the ignition. During the wild ride, the daughter drove erratically swerving, running a stop sign, and running a vehicle coming from the opposite direction into a ditch.
District Attorney Robinson stated, “The Jury did a good job of arriving at a fair and just verdict. The Pennsylvania State Police did their usual good job of investigating this very serious crime. However, I would like to single out the ‘Good Samaritan,’ who brought this crazy episode to a halt. The Good Samaritan did his job as a citizen and without his intervention this episode could have easily ended in a tragedy.”
Hannon was convicted of all charges, including two counts Endangering the Welfare of Children (F3), two counts of DUI (M1), two counts of Recklessly Endangering Another Person (M2), the Summary offenses of Driving While DUI Suspended and the Summary offense of Permit Unauthorized Person to Drive.
At the conclusion of the trial Judge Hamill revoked the Hanon’s Bail. Sentencing is scheduled for October 4, 2018.