The sedan ripped down the Ohio turnpike like a cannonball, the speedometer pushing 100 mph as a dozen police and state cruisers tagged behind in pursuit.

Under a cloud-streaked blue sky, the vehicle dipped in and out of lanes of morning traffic, eventually running off the highway completely.

“He’s off road, driving down the ditch,” one of the Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers radioed to the rest of the pursuers, according to dash cam footage. “We are not going to let him get back on the highway.”

But the car kept driving, speeding through the grass running parallel to the roadway.

“Can you advise on intentional contact to stop him?” a trooper radioed.

“One car as gently as possible,” another answered. Slowly, one of the Highway Patrol cars nudged the fleeing vehicle, bringing it to a stop after a 45-mile high-speed chase outside of Cleveland.

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Quickly law enforcement swarmed the vehicle.

Troopers reached through the window for the driver, yanking out a 10-year-old who had stolen the family car. It was the second time in as many weeks the unnamed boy had gone joyriding, Cleveland.com reports.

The hour-long chase started in Cleveland earlier Thursday morning. The boy grabbed the keys while waiting for his sister to take him to school. While she showered, he snagged the keys to his mother’s boyfriend’s car, according to Cleveland.com.

Realizing what had happened, the boy’s mother jumped in her own car and pursued the speeding car as the boy piloted around the Cleveland highway and made for the turnpike.

“My ten-year-old stole his dad’s car and he’s running from me,” the mother told a 911 dispatcher.

After police stopped the car, the boy was taken into custody. No charges have been filed yet.

“He was a good driver for being 10-years-old,” an eyewitness to the chase told News 5. “He was three foot tall, he was a very short kid. I don’t even see how he looked over the steering wheel.”

According to Fox8, earlier in October, the boy stole the same car until three flat tires left him stranded on the side of the highway. The boy’s mother told police he had taken the car because he was “bored.”


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