5-year-old Utah boy drives family car onto interstate, intending to buy Lamborghini
A Utah Highway Patrol trooper got a pint-sized surprise when he pulled over a 5-year-old driver who was swerving so badly he thought the driver needed medical attention.
Trooper Rick Morgan said the boy didn't respond to his lights but pulled over when he hit his siren on Interstate 15 in Ogden on Monday.
"I approached the vehicle and I was expecting to find somebody who needed an ambulance or paramedics," Morgan said.
But Morgan said when the window came down, it was pretty clear that it was "a very underaged driver who was behind the wheel."
The boy was sitting on the edge of his seat to reach the brake pedal, Morgan said.
CBS Salt Lake City affiliate KUTV reports the boy, named Adrian, had managed to get the keys of his family's Dodge Journey and drive it two miles through Ogden, Utah and onto Interstate 15 when Morgan spotted him.
"Where did you come from? How did you get this car?" dash camera video recorded the baffled trooper say to Adrian.
Morgan said the boy told him he was going to his sister's house — in California.
The boy told another trooper he wanted to buy a Lamborghini when he got there and then flashed open his wallet showing his cash to purchase his dream car: $3.
His parents were contacted and they came and took custody of their son and the vehicle.
His story is that he left home after an argument with Mom, in which she told him she would not buy him a Lamborghini. He decided he'd take the car and go to California to buy one himself. He might have been short on the purchase amount, as he only had $3 dollars in his wallet.
— Utah Highway Patrol (@UTHighwayPatrol) May 4, 2020
Adrian's sister, Sidney Estrada, told KUTV she was watching the family's children while their parents were at work. She says she fell asleep.
When she woke up, she realized Adrian may could be in danger.
"I saw that the truck was gone, and he was gone, and the keys were gone. ... I don't know what went through his mind," she told the station.
The family said Adrian had never driven a car before and they don't know how he managed to get the keys to the car, much less drive across town and get on the interstate.
The family said the incident is a good reminder to keep car keys out of the reach of children.