CLEVELAND, Ohio - An Ohio father said he was in disbelief when he got a call Thursday morning that his 10-year-old son stole his car and was speeding down a highway - for the second time.
“This is the second time in a week,” Christopher Hampton told WJW. “He took his mother’s boyfriend's car last week and so I told her to let him live with me for a week and the first day with me and he steals my car.”
Hampton told WJW that he was at work and his sister was watching the boy.
“She went to the bathroom right before they were going to leave for school and when she walked out of the room he took the key and took off,” Hampton said.
He said as soon as the boy’s mother heard she got in a vehicle and was able to find him. She tried to get him to pull over but he refused. The boy drove west on Interstate 90 and fled from police. He then got on the turnpike and was stopped near mile marker 121 by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The highway patrol and tow truck drivers say the 10-year-old was combative and kicked and spit at troopers. The boy is now in the care of Erie County Children Services.
Hampton says he is extremely relieved that no one was injured. He said he wants people to know that the boy’s mother is a good parent and they are working together to make sure he gets the help he needs.
“I feel really bad because his mother has to go through this and my father as well,” said Cheyenne Greene, the boy’s sister. “I just hope he gets the help he needs.”
Last week the boy stole a Dodge Charger was driving at a high rate of speed on Interstate 90. The car got three flat tires and the boy pulled over on the side of the road. When police arrived the boy told them he was 15.
Police and state troopers continue to investigate.
