BERLIN—Police say an 8-year-old boy took his mom’s car and went for a nighttime joyride on a highway in western Germany.
Soest police said the boy’s mother called them early Wednesday after she noticed that both her son and her Volkswagen Golf had disappeared.
Mother and police eventually found the boy at a highway service area where he’d parked the car, turned on the hazard lights, and put up the warning triangle.
Police said that the moment they arrived at the scene, the boy was found burst into tears, BBC reported.
German eight-year-old takes 140km/h joyride on motorway https://t.co/ceZ4wg2GdJ
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) August 21, 2019
The 8-year-old told the officers: “I just wanted to drive a little bit,” Soest police said in a Facebook post.
According to police, the boy said he started feeling “uncomfortable” once he hit 140 kph (87 mph) on the highway.
The boy’s mother said her son regularly drives go-carts and bumper cars and has in the past practiced driving a real car on private property.
“Fortunately, after the ride, there is no damage to persons or property,” police said.
The legal age for driving in Germany is 18.
8-Year-Old Learns to Drive From YouTube Videos
In 2017, an 8-year-old boy from East Palestine, Ohio, drove himself and his 4-year-old sister to McDonald’s, The Weirton Daily Times reported.
The boy reportedly followed all traffic rules and “drove effortlessly,” East Palestine Patrolman Jacob Koehler told The Weirton Daily Times. The boy had learned to drive by watching YouTube videos.
“He didn’t hit a single thing on the way there. It was unreal,” Koehler said.
He drove so well that he made it to McDonald’s, ordered in the drive-thru, and only when he pulled up to the pickup window did McDonald’s workers think there was something odd.
“The workers thought that the parents were in the back, but obviously they weren’t,” Koehler told The Weirton Daily Times.
The boy’s parents had already fallen asleep when the boy and girl drove away with the vehicle. The boy was able to get the car keys by standing on his tippy toes and pulling them off from where they were hanging, The Weirton Daily Times reported.
The boy told the police that he did it because he just really wanted to eat a cheeseburger. He was remorseful about doing something illegal.
A friend of the family recognized the children and called their grandparents to pick them up and take them to the police station. While waiting for the grandparents, they ate the McDonald’s food.
The parents then came and picked up the children from the station. The police did not file charges, The Weirton Daily Times reported.
Girl Steals Mother’s Car, Drives to McDonald’s
A few days later, police in Kansas City, Missouri, were surprised to find that a 10-year-old girl was the driver of an SUV that crashed into a minivan while also damaging an electrical box and stop sign.
The girl woke up before her mother on the morning of July 31. She wanted to get something to eat, so she decided to drive her mother’s Chevy Tahoe by herself, The Kansas City Missouri Police Department wrote in a news release.
The girl drove for a while before getting lost. When she tried to turn the car, she did not follow traffic rules. She didn’t yield to a Honda Pilot coming in the opposite direction, and the two cars collided.
Police were called at about 7:45 a.m. The girl was transported to the hospital for minor bumps and bruises. The driver of the Honda Pilot was not injured, according to the release.
NTD reporter Colin Fredericson and The Associated Press contributed to this article.
