After wrapping up a round of 'Grand Theft Auto,' police say an 11-year-old boy stole his parents' vehicle and took it for a joy ride on Highway 400 last night.
OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said police received reports about an erratic driver in the northbound lanes of Highway 400 near Major Mackenzie Drive shortly before midnight last night.
“Drivers called it in thinking it was probably an impaired driver because the vehicle was all over the highway,” Schmidt said Sunday.
When officers finally caught up with the vehicle near King Road, Schmidt said the driver spun around to go southbound on Highway 400 and refused to stop for police.
“What happened is the vehicle was first going under the speed limit, about half the speed limit. Then (he) switches over to the other lanes, continues to travel accelerating to well over the speed limit, 120 or more kilometres per hour. The vehicle then stopped and as the officer tried to get out and talk to this driver, find out what was going on… the vehicle took off again,” he said.
“Finally, we got more officers involved, were able to get that vehicle safely stopped without causing a crash.”
Police later discovered that the driver of the vehicle was an 11-year-old boy.
“He had just been finishing playing 'Grand Theft Auto' at home and wanted to find out what it was like to drive a car,” Schmidt added.
“That could have been a fatality and that would have been an absolute tragedy.”
Schmidt said the boy was returned to his parents a short time later.
