A 12-year-old boy has been arrested after being pursued by police for an hour as he drove a stolen forklift truck.
The child broke into the truck, which he stole from outside a school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, using a key he found in the cab.
“This was a very dangerous situation that could’ve easily ended with serious injuries,” police said in a statement.
“The incident remains an active and ongoing criminal investigation.”
Two different police forces pursued the boy
Ann Arbor Police
Driving the Construction Genie GTH-636 Telehandler, the boy was followed by police in an hour-long pursuit, with the 12-year-old hitting 10 parked cars during the chase.
Officers were called to the middle school around 6.45pm on Saturday and discovered the child driving the 35,000-pound vehicle without its headlights.
Police quickly gave chase as the boy drove erratically away, hitting multiple cars in the process.
Footage released by Ann Arbour police documents the chase, with officers following the vehicle at 15 to 20mph, the force said.
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In the video, officers can be heard urging the boy to “pull over now!” and saying, “he’s lowering the hooks”.
Nobody was injured in the incident, Ann Arbour Police Department have said.
The chase from Ann Arbour officers stopped around 7.20pm.
The child continued to drive until around 8pm, when the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office picked up the chase, eventually catching up to him.
The chase from Ann Arbour officers stopped around 7.20pm, then the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office picked it up
Ann Arbor Police
The 12-year-old was taken into custody that night and put in a juvenile detention centre.
The young boy’s driving skills impressed many on social media.
“I thought he did a good job driving that forklift, probably better than I could have done,” one YouTube user wrote.
“The one car he hit was probably due to the cop shining a bright spotlight on him, maybe temporarily blinding him.”
