8-year-old boy takes car, drives for miles on I-35E
An 8-year-old boy drove his foster family's 1992 Buick Roadmaster on Interstate Hwy. 35E early Tuesday morning. He navigated at least one construction zone, multiple highways and ramps, with a 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old boy in the car.
The children were not injured in what the Minnesota State Patrol called a "very bizarre situation" with "the best possible outcome."
It's not clear how the boy got on I-35E from where he lives in St. Paul.
The State Patrol's spokesperson Lt. Tiffani Nielson said around six callers reported a vehicle swerving on I-35E northbound at Highway 36 just before 6 a.m. At least one witness followed it to help dispatchers locate the children.
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The boy drove at least 10 miles on Highway 36 West, to Interstate Hwy. 35W northbound, exited on County Road 10, went onto side streets and eventually parked in a Mounds View driveway.
"This driveway was just a random location that was of no relation to the children," she said.
A state trooper found the children just as they were pulling into the driveway. He traced them to a foster family in St. Paul who had simultaneously reported them missing, Nielson added.
Authorities returned the children to their foster parents and handed off the investigation to Ramsey County Child Protection Services.
"It was quite astounding to see that these three young children were in this vehicle and had driven on the freeway," Nielson said, adding they weren't belted in. "It's amazing ... the children were not involved in any type of collision."