11-Year-Old Boy Hijacks Neighbor’s Subaru Using Hide-A-Key
Ah, to be young again.
Police are reporting than an 11-year-old boy with sticky fingers recently took the ride of his life. There were only a few problems: the ride was in a car on streets with other drivers, the car did not belong to him, and, oh yeah, he couldn’t see over the dashboard.
The unidentified boy from SeaTac, Washington, found the hide-a-key to his neighbor’s red Subaru. Finders keepers, amirite? The car was parked along Pacific Highway, which is notoriously busy—though less busy than the Pacific Coast Highway. Rather than notify the neighbor that the Subaru’s key was very easy to find and maybe the neighbor should not trust a rock to hide the key to what is likely one of their most expensive possessions, the boy decided to hop in and punch the gas.
A detective in an unmarked police car noticed the erratic driving, which included swerving and running through stoplights, so the detective phoned in an officer in a marked vehicle. The officer operating the marked patrol car actually had to utilize a PIT (precision immobilization technique) maneuver to stop the Subaru by forcing it to turn sideways, lose control, and, ultimately, stop. Luckily, the boy was not hurt during this maneuver, nor were any other drivers or pedestrians.
The boy was turned over to his mother, who reportedly had “no comment.” A juvenile prosecutor will decide if he will be charged.
As for the red Subaru, it did suffer some damage but was returned to the boy’s neighbor, totally salvageable. But as for the hide-a-key? Let’s hope the neighbor throws that thing straight in the garbage.
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