The family of the 10-year-old boy who led Ohio State troopers on a high-speed chase nearly 50 miles down Interstate 90 on Thursday said the boy stole his dad’s car keys while his family was getting ready in the morning.
His father, Christopher Hampton, told Cleveland-based WEWS his son thought it was a joke and since he got away with it previously, he thought he’d get away with it again.
The 10-year-old stole his mother’s Dodge Charger just last week and drove it around Cleveland. This time around, he took his dad’s Toyota Avalon 50 miles to Sandusky, at times reaching 100 miles an hour on the turnpike.
“I was terrified, I didn't think it was true,” said the boy’s older sister, Cheyenne Greene. “We all say the same thing to him. It just goes in one ear and out the other.”
“He thinks everything is funny,” said his father, Christopher Hampton. “He thinks because he got away with it the first time, they ain’t going to do nothing to him this time."
Hampton said his sister was getting his son ready for school Thursday morning.
“She went to go use the bathroom before she left. She went in the bathroom and he took the key and took off with the car,” he said.
The 10-year-old drove through a toll booth stop. He even avoided state trooper stop sticks. He ultimately got stuck in a ditch.
His family thinks he may have learned his reckless driving from playing video games, like Grand Theft Auto.
“I told him, he could’ve hurt somebody, he could’ve hurt himself, or he could’ve been killed, he could’ve killed somebody else… and you knew you were wrong. Everything you do is not a joke,” said Hampton.
