Louisiana troopers: Dad sleeps while 8-year-old drives

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana state police say an 8-year-old boy was driving a pickup truck down an interstate while his drunken father slept in the passenger seat.

Troopers say the man's 4-year-old daughter was in the back seat when the truck was stopped Saturday morning in Livingston Parish. The child's driving was so erratic that it alarmed motorists, who called authorities.

The children have been handed over to Louisiana Child Protective Services.

The father, 28-year-old Billy Joe Madden of Hattiesburg, Miss., was booked into the Livingston Parish Jail on charges including child desertion and allowing a minor to drive. It was not clear Saturday afternoon if he had an attorney.