Police say an 11-year-old behind the wheel, with an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old as passengers, led officers on a chase Saturday in a car reported stolen out of Parma.
“This has got to be a record for the youngest driver in a pursuit that I’ve ever seen,” said Newburgh Heights Police Chief John Majoy. “11-years-old for God’s sake, that’s incredible.”
According to Majoy, a license plate reader alerted officers to the stolen vehicle as it drove along Harvard Avenue. When police tried to stop the car, the driver took off, leading officers westbound on Harvard and over the Denison Bridge.
“Then they made an abrupt left turn, lost control of the vehicle and smashing the side of a house,” said Majoy.
That house, at the corner of Denison Avenue and West 20th Street, is where Daniel Reilly was upstairs watching TV.
“A big, you know, bang and a lot of noise,” Reilly told 3News about the crash.
Majoy said the kids ran from the scene but were quickly caught. He said they told officers they learned how to steal cars by watching YouTube videos.
“In the pictures that we have, you can see where the steering column then cracked and they had used the USB to basically hot wire the car to get it started,” said Majoy.
According to Majoy, the kids were released to their parents and charges will be filed in juvenile court.
Read: https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cuyahoga-county/11-year-old-driver-leads-police-stolen-car-chase-newburgh-heights-ohio/95-77a7927b-3e69-4726-8d06-12ee5c54a8a0
source
