A naughty four-year-old who was craving for some Reese’s candy decided to do something about it himself by making off with his great-grandfather’s SUV and driving it nearly two miles to a gas station to get his sweet treat.
The incident happened at 8:30 am on June 11, 2019. The boy, named Sebastian, stole the keys of his great-grandfather’s Hyundai Santa Fe when no one was looking. He then took the vehicle for the mile-and-a-half drive to the Speedway gas station in Blaine.
According to the Blaine Police Department, despite being barely able to see above the wheel, Sebastian still managed to reverse out of the driveway and onto the main road. He drove through neighborhood streets before hitting the main road bustling with morning rush hour traffic.
When Fox 9 reporters asked him where he was headed, he replied: “To the gas station because I wanted to have Reese’s.”
According to witnesses, the SUV was going at 10-to-15 miles per hour and moving erratically before it finally reached the gas station parking lot.
The authorities managed to track the vehicle and were waiting for the boy once he arrived. Fortunately, no injuries were reported although a few mailboxes were destroyed in the process. Sebastian had also apparently clipped a neighbor’s tree and a piece of the bumper was left on the neighbor’s lawn.
The boy managed to get the keys off the wall hook by using his great-grandfather’s walker as a stand before making his getaway with no one the wiser.
Sebastian’s great-grandfather, Roy Becker, told Fox 9: “He watches everything people do and he’ll repeat it.
“It could’ve been very serious. He could’ve hit a car. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt. We could be talking about a funeral.”
Jenna Swenson, the boy’s mother, said that “panic and anxiety” ensued when they discovered what had happened and it took some time for them to figure out where her son had gone.
She said: “A little of almost all the emotions going on, trying to calculate what happened.”
Captain Mark Boerboom of the Blaine Police Department said this was the first time he encountered this young a driver making off with a vehicle before.
The family vowed to keep the car keys under lock and key and keep a closer eye on Sebastian from now on.