10-year-old boy seriously injured after he steals pickup truck, leads police on high-speed chase

A 10-year-old boy sustained multiple injuries after taking his mother’s pickup truck and leading police on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash.

Local CBS affiliate KFDM reports that police in the Southeast Texas city of Vidor, near Beaumont, received multiple calls about a reckless driver, believed to be a child, around 7:30 am on Wednesday.

Responding officers saw the vehicle, a Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, run a red light. When police officers turned on their emergency lights, the child increased speed, reaching up to 85 miles per hour before eventually running off the road and rolling over near Old Spanish Trail.

According to a statement by Vidor Police Chief Rod Carroll, the boy had to be extricated from the truck and was airlifted to Hermann Memorial Hospital in Houston in serious condition. KFDM reported that the child’s many injuries included a fractured eye socket and a broken arm. The boy was reportedly not wearing a seatbelt.

In an interview with CBS DFW, Chief Carroll noted that the boy’s mother called the sheriff’s department to report that her son had taken her family’s pickup truck after the two had a disagreement while she was getting ready to take the boy to school.

The police chief surmised that the mother “may have left the car for a second. (The boy) jumped in the driver’s seat and took off.”

According to the police chief, the boy’s mother was actually on the phone with police when the crash occurred.

Chief Carroll told CBS DFW that the child “had some driving skills” and was able to drive “a good distance” before the accident.

The police chief said he did not believe that charges would be filed.

“Children make mistakes, and that’s exactly what this was,” he said.

However, he noted that parents should never leave a child alone in a running vehicle and should warn children about the dangers of attempting to drive a vehicle.