newjerseynewsroom.com

Police say he was driving down the street with open containers of beer and a shotgun. He had a shotgun shell in his pocket. And he was drunk.

And he was only 14.

The Great Meadows, N.J., boy was stopped by a Hackettstown police officer about 1 a.m. on Dec. 11 as he was driving a red Dodge Durango on Madison Street, according to NJ.com. The boy, who said he was 19, failed a sobriety test.

The Associated Press reported that police told them the boy eventually admitted that he was 14 and that Timothy Pruden of Liberty Township had given the boy his driver’s license so that young teen could drive home another youth.

The driver originally identified himself as Pruden.

Police said they pulled over Pruden’s SUV after noticing what appeared to be a large pipe dropping down from the passenger side as it made a wide turn onto Madison Street. They smelled alcohol on the driver’s breath.

The 14-year-old told police that the three had been hunting earlier that day.

Pruden was charged with loaning his license to the 14-year-old and for allowing him to drive his vehicle while drunk. He was released pending a court appearance.

Police said that the boy, who was released to a family member, was charged with driving while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated underage, being an unlicensed driver, having an open container in a motor vehicle, careless driving, reckless driving, providing false information and possession of a shotgun without a firearms purchaser’s identification card.

—JOE GREENE, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM