WORLD / Odd News

Girl, 10, goes for drive, hits others
(AP)
Updated: 2006-05-20 09:50

A 10-year-old girl crashed into several cars after she grabbed the car keys and drove off in her guardian's sport utility vehicle with a toddler and a 5-year-old as passengers, officials said. No one was seriously hurt.

Dispatchers received numerous calls about the gray Kia driving recklessly on a major Pensacola road Thursday night, said Ted Roy, a spokesman for the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. He said the girl sideswiped several cars during her 15-minute drive and reached speeds of 40 to 50 mph.

Sheriff's deputies and Florida Highway Patrol officers followed the car.

"She was so little she had to go down and hit the gas and pop her head back up to see where she was going," Roy said.

The trip ended when the SUV jumped a curb and hit fire hydrant.

The children received only minor injuries and others drivers were not hurt, Roy said.

Roy said officers described the girl as "crying and upset" on their report. She had walked out of her house without telling her guardian she was leaving, officials said.

Sheriff's deputies charged the girl as a juvenile with kidnapping and false imprisonment and vehicle theft, while the highway patrol charged her with careless driving, not having a driver's license and not using a child restraint.