10-year-old boy drives to store, speeds away in police chase

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FOSTORIA, Ohio (AP) — An erratic, speeding driver who led an Ohio officer on a brief pursuit turned out to be a 10-year-old boy who took his parents' car without permission and drove 11 miles to a nearby city to shop at a convenience store, police said.

An officer in Fostoria, roughly 40 miles south of Toledo, tried to stop a driver who wasn't using headlights and kept braking Sunday morning, and the vehicle took off at 70 mph, WTOL-TV reported. The vehicle eventually struck a curb and stopped in a restaurant parking lot, where the officer was surprised to discover that the driver was a child.

"It appears he wanted to go shopping," Police Chief Keith Loreno told The (Fostoria) Review Times.

No one was hurt, but police said the boy had nearly collided head-on with a tractor-trailer and jeopardized the safety of others in the area.

"At one point, he far exceeded the speed limits of the city," Loreno said. "Besides himself, he placed a lot of people in serious danger."

The boy, from the nearby town of Kansas, was taken into custody and charged with fleeing from a law enforcement officer.

His parents haven't been charged, but juvenile court and children's services are reviewing the case, The Review Times reported.

Loreno told WTOL-TV that the tale should be a reminder to parents to store their car keys somewhere safe, out of the reach of curious children.