A deaf 8-year-old boy went on an overnight joyride through Oklahoma City, driving 20 miles before crashing into a curb on the other side of the city Thursday, police said.
The boy snuck out of his suburban house in Moore, to the city’s southwest, and took off in his family’s silver 2012 Kia sedan, Sgt. Gary Knight told the Daily News.
The tiny driver cruised through the city until he hit a curb on the city’s northwest side at about 5:30 a.m., Knight said.
It would “almost be an overstatement” to call it a crash, Knight said. The boy “drove up on the curb and bumped into decorative rocks” and bushes on the corner of Wilshire and May Streets, Knight said. There was minimal damage to the car.
The boy was not injured and stopped driving voluntarily, Knight said. He was standing next to the car when officers arrived at the scene.
The drive would take about 25 minutes, according to a Google Maps distance measurement.
“It’s something we certainly don’t see every day,” Knight said of dealing with an 8-year-old driver.
The boy drove off while his family was sleeping, his mother told NewsOK when she arrived on the crash scene. The vehicle belongs to her, she told News 9.
Knight said the boy could have taken the highway or back roads on his journey.
Knight said some of the details of the joyride were not clear because officers and the boy struggled to communicate — they had to talk via handwritten notes because of the boy’s is hearing impairment.
The boy has been released back to his family and police do not expect to file charges, Knight said.
Knight said he does not doubt that the boy was behind the wheel, although he does not know how he learned to drive.
“That remains a mystery at this time,” he said.