Imagine this: You’re driving through your neighborhood, minding your own business, when—bam!—a rock the size of a grapefruit smashes into your car. You slam the brakes. At the end of a driveway, a 7-year-old stands there, staring blankly. No apology. No panic. Just…standing there.
The driver in this story had a clear case. “I stopped and asked the boy to go inside and get his father,” he explained. When the dad came out, his reaction was, to put it lightly, unexpected. “‘He’s 7, what do you expect?’” the father reportedly said.
The driver, understandably, was furious at the father. “I asked if he would be covering damages, and he reportedly said, ‘No, I should not be held responsible for this.’” The damage? A ruined rim, with an estimate for replacement totaling $687.
The incident happened in Kentucky. Local law is clear: parents are responsible for up to $2,500 in property damage caused by their kids . The police even backed the driver, telling the father he was on the hook for repairs. But when the driver sent the estimate, he got a response he never expected—a letter from a lawyer. And not just any lawyer.
“Let me say, his ‘client’ was the 7-year-old, not the father,” the driver wrote. “It said I was harassing them and they would not be paying for damages.”
After a kid damaged their car with rock, driver turns to Reddit
Reddit exploded with opinions. One user didn’t mince words: “Sue him, it’s not just damage, it’s dangerous!” Another referenced a case where teenagers throwing rocks off an overpass led to manslaughter charges, arguing that parents need to teach their kids common sense .
Others saw it differently. “It’s a 7-year-old,” one commenter said. “You’re really going to sue a child?”
Most seven-year-olds don’t have a lawyer
I’d guess that the seven-year-old didn’t lawyer up after the accident. So it looks like the parents’ lawyer decided accusing the driver of harassing the kid was the best way to scare them off. Some even speculated that the lawyer’s letter was just a scare tactic, suggesting the father “had a friend or cheap lawyer write it to intimidate the driver.”
So, where does that leave things? The driver could take it to small claims court, where many thought he’d win. But is it worth the time and hassle? “Even if they don’t default, you give the judge discretion to award extra damages if the kid’s parents are as idiotic as you make it seem,” one user advised .
In the end, this case boils down to a bigger debate: Should a driver have to eat the cost of a kid’s bad decision, or should parents be legally accountable for what their children do? Kentucky law makes it clear: the parents are responsible.
Curious about the Reddit post? Check it out below:
[KY] A 7 year old threw a rock at my car while driving through my neighborhood
byu/LilUziBurt inlegaladvice
