Police stop toddler who took off in mother's car

A child believed to be Oshkosh's youngest driver took the family car for a short spin on Wednesday afternoon.

A 23-year-old Oshkosh woman left her sleeping 3-year-old son in the car on Wednesday at 11:55 a.m. while she momentarily ran into their residence in the 2200 block of Bowen Street. When she came out of the residence, she saw her 1985 Buick sedan almost two blocks away on Greenwood Court. When officers stopped the vehicle, they found the woman's son behind the wheel, Oshkosh Police Department spokesman Joe Nichols said.

An officer was able to stop the vehicle and return the child to his mother, Nichols said. The boy showed officers how he pulled down on the gearshift to get the car going.

Nichols said he could not remember any other time the department had received a report of a young child driving a vehicle. "It's just unbelievably scary," Nichols said. Officers did not issue any citations to the mother and have not referred the incident to the district attorney's office, Nichols said.