The children were spotted during a traffic stop.
A 10-year-old boy and his sister, aged 11, were arrested in Florida for taking their mother’s car and going for a joyride in the middle of the night after she took away their electronic devices. According to local news outlet KBTX, the siblings were stopped by the police on a highway around 3.50am on Thursday (September 21). They were surprised to see the 10-year-old boy driving the car and his sister sitting on the passenger’s seat. The car had been reported stolen out of North Port.
Their mother had filed a missing person complaint.
The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office said the siblings were upset because their mother took away their gadgets. It’s believed the gadgets were taken away because the children “were not using them appropriately”, the police were quoted as saying by the outlet.
The children were spotted during a “high risk traffic stop” as the white sedan had been reported stolen, the police said in a Facebook post.
“It was learned that the siblings had been reported as missing to the North Port Police Department and that the stolen vehicle belonged to their mother,” the post said.
The police further said that they called the mother of the children who said she doesn’t want to pursue charges and drove 3 hours north to Alachua County to take custody of the boy and the girl.
The police’s social media post included two photos of the children exiting the vehicle with their hands raised. The department covered their faces in the images to conceal their identities.
NBC News said the brother and the sister had travelled about 200 miles (320 kilometres) from home.
A police officer told the outlet that the driver could have been booked on an allegation of driving without a license. However, it is a misdemeanour traffic violation and would not lead to detention in a juvenile facility, the officer added.
“Our detectives did speak with their mother at length,” the sheriff’s office told NBC News. She “was clearly doing her best to raise two young children and she was very receptive to the recommendations they provided in helping her get assistance”.
