Grandparents of the year! Couple 'tied 7-year-old girl's Hot Wheels toy car to SUV using dog leashes and towed her along the road while drunk'

By Daily Mail Reporter

PUBLISHED: 15:44 EST, 30 April 2012 | UPDATED: 06:58 EST, 1 May 2012

Two Florida grandparents have been arrested after police say they hooked their granddaughter's plastic toy Hot Wheels car to their SUV and gave her a ride.

A Sarasota County deputy said he spotted the seven-year-old wearing a bathing suit and no helmet as she was towed behind the SUV on Sunday.

Her toy car was tied to a trailer hitch with dog leashes. She was not harmed.

Arrest: Police spotted the little girl being towed on this toy car behind her grandparents' SUV

Dangerous: The toy car was attached to the SUV with dog leashes and the little girl was sitting inside in her bathing suit

Paul Berloni, 49, was charged with driving under the influence, child endangerment and driving with a suspended license.

Belinda Berloni, 47, faces a child endangerment charge. Both admitted they had been drinking. Belinda said they were just having fun and had been towing the child all day.

The deputy estimated that the Hot Wheels car was traveling between five and ten miles per hour when it was stopped.

Paul Berloni, who was driving the SUV, reeked of booze, had watery and bloodshot eyes, and his speech was 'slowed and slurred', according to the arrest report.

When asked for his driver’s license, Berloni said that it was 'revoked for 10 years for a DUI', according to the Smoking Gun.

Drunk: Grandparents Paul Berloni, 49, and Belinda Berloni, 47, from Florida were charged with child endangerment

Belinda Berloni was riding in the vehicle’s cargo area 'with the rear hatch open cheering the child on as she was being pulled behind the vehicle'.

The arrest report said she told the deputy they knew it was dangerous but it was also fun and they had been doing it all day.

The couple remained in jail without bond.