Photo: Queensland Police
The fast, the furious, the misunderstood, the very young. Four children from Queensland, Australia, were able to steal a car and then travel with it for about 900 km (560 miles) and 10 hours straight before police caught up with them.
Perhaps just as surprising as this driving feat is the fact that the kids were aged 10 to 14, abc.net reports. Police would have probably caught them sooner had they been able to engage in a proper chase, but they couldn’t because of the driver’s age and the road conditions.
The kids went missing from central Queensland and traveled all the way to New South Wales, in Grafton. It is believed the father of one of them lived there, and this was their final destination.
Along the way, the kids, who were in a Nissan Patrol, had to stop for gas twice and, as you probably guessed, they are believed to not have paid for it on either occasion. However, they did have cash on them, as well as fishing rods, which they stole with the car.
Some time after a police notice went out about the disappearance of the four (a 14-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl and two 13-year-old boys), someone called to say they had spotted the SUV outside Glen Innes. Police found the car in a parking lot, but the kids had locked themselves in and were refusing to come out.
Acting Inspector Darren Williams tells the publication the officers had to break open the windows on the vehicle, to apprehend the underage car thieves.
“The children were directed to open the doors to the vehicles [but] they've locked themselves in the car and police have had to use a baton to get into the vehicle to arrest them,” Williams explains. “There will be charges laid in the future and it's just a matter of police having the opportunity to interview those children at a later date.”
Williams believe all kids must’ve taken turns driving, because of the distance they were able to cover in 10 hours.
“It's a pretty big journey, and it's a long way for a young person – I suppose a couple of cans of Red Bull and you're likely to do anything,” he explains.
As of the time of writing, only 1 of the kids has been released to parents. The father whose car they stole is expected to arrive in NSW to pick up his wayward son and the vehicle.
No word yet on why the kids felt like running away from home.
The kids went missing from central Queensland and traveled all the way to New South Wales, in Grafton. It is believed the father of one of them lived there, and this was their final destination.
Along the way, the kids, who were in a Nissan Patrol, had to stop for gas twice and, as you probably guessed, they are believed to not have paid for it on either occasion. However, they did have cash on them, as well as fishing rods, which they stole with the car.
Some time after a police notice went out about the disappearance of the four (a 14-year-old boy, a 10-year-old girl and two 13-year-old boys), someone called to say they had spotted the SUV outside Glen Innes. Police found the car in a parking lot, but the kids had locked themselves in and were refusing to come out.
Acting Inspector Darren Williams tells the publication the officers had to break open the windows on the vehicle, to apprehend the underage car thieves.
“The children were directed to open the doors to the vehicles [but] they've locked themselves in the car and police have had to use a baton to get into the vehicle to arrest them,” Williams explains. “There will be charges laid in the future and it's just a matter of police having the opportunity to interview those children at a later date.”
Williams believe all kids must’ve taken turns driving, because of the distance they were able to cover in 10 hours.
“It's a pretty big journey, and it's a long way for a young person – I suppose a couple of cans of Red Bull and you're likely to do anything,” he explains.
As of the time of writing, only 1 of the kids has been released to parents. The father whose car they stole is expected to arrive in NSW to pick up his wayward son and the vehicle.
No word yet on why the kids felt like running away from home.
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