Drunken 14-year-old flips mom's car in West Ashley

WEST ASHLEY, SC (WCSC) - A drunken 14-year-old was lucky to escape serious injury early Wednesday morning after flipping his mother's car during a joyride in West Ashley.

According to the Charleston County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to an overturned vehicle at the intersection of Ashley River Road and Glendale Drive around 3 a.m. When the first deputy arrived on scene, he said a 14-year-old boy crawled out of a flipped Chrysler Sebring, saying, "Help me I'm (expletive) drunk!"

The deputy said the teen kept saying he was only 14, he was drunk, and his mother was going to kill him. The teen went on to say that he took his mother's car without her knowing.

The teen was able to walk, but smelled of alcohol, according to the report. Furthermore, he had suffered visible cuts and bruises, but no apparent injuries.

The deputy said it appeared the teen had been driving south towards Charleston when the car went off the right side of the road, clipped a large tree, traveled through a ditch, then flipped and just missed a telephone pole before coming to a rest on Glendale Drive.

According to the report, Miller Lite beer cans and spilled beer were found in and around the car.

When deputies spoke with the teen's mother, she told them she had last seen her son at their residence around 11 p.m., when she went to bed. She also told deputies she had not given her son permission to use the vehicle.

Authorities did not say if they determined where the teen got the beer.

The teen was taken to the MUSC Children's Hospital and released a short time later.

He was charged with use of a vehicle without permission and minor in possession of beer. The case will be tried in juvenile court.