Tuesday, September 01, 2009

9-year-old leads police on car chase

A 9-year-old boy who took his parents' car led officers on a chase Saturday night, police said. Officers responding to reports of a driver swerving on the road tried to pull over a car on U.S. 40 just after 11 p.m. Saturday, said Greenfield police Maj. Derek Towle.

"He was driving from side to side. He would speed up and slow down, which is a good indication of an intoxicated person," Towle said. Police said the boy often crossed into the opposite lane and that his speed hit 80 mph at times.

The chase went on for quite some time, until police used stop sticks to puncture one of the car's tyres, forcing it into a ravine. When officers approached the car, they said, they found a 9-year-old huddled in the back seat. Police said the boy told them he took the car because he was angry at his parents.



"This young man, I guess, was upset because his mom and dad told him that it was time to come in late last night, around 8 p.m. He was upset because they told him that he had to come in and quit playing, so he was mad and took off," Towle said.

Investigators said the boy left while his parents were sleeping by stealing the keys out of his mother's purse. He told officers that he was going to a friend's house.

The boy was arrested and turned over to the custody of his parents. Hancock County probation officers and Child Protective Services will meet with the boy this week.

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