What was 55-year-old granny Marie Shipley doing in Apollo Park yesterday afternoon?

Taking her three small grandkids for a nice Columbus Day cruise in the back of her ride, according to L.A. County Sheriff's Department officials.

But not before downing a fair amount of beer — enough to snag herself some felony DUI charges at least an hour later — also according to the sheriff.

Shipley had allegedly been driving drunk in the park with her three male juvenile grandchildren in the vehicle.

The grandchildren began arguing while in the vehicle and she yelled at them to stop. The boys, ages 7, 11 and 13, jumped out of the moving vehicle. When Shipley slowed down, one of the juveniles attempted to get back into the moving vehicle.

As Shipley started to accelerate away, the boy fell to the ground and was injured. Shipley stopped when she heard her grandchild yell in pain.

As if she hadn't quite qualified for Worst Grandma of the Century, the (alleged) drunk driver then kept driving all the way back to her home in Lancaster. That's where sheriff's deputies found and arrested her at 4:40 p.m.

Meanwhile, the boys' concerned mother — more responsible than her own mother, apparently — took one kid to the hospital to take care of some arm injuries he had sustained in the, uh, dragging incident.

And somehow, we get a semi-happy ending:

Shipley was placed under arrest for felony driving under the influence and was booked and released at Lancaster Station.

The children are now with their mother.

Hope it stays that way.

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

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