People in Minneapolis, Minnesota, say a 10-year-old boy stole a car and drove carelessly near a school field, almost hitting other kids who were playing.
On Friday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told Fox 9 that the event took place on September 20 at the playground outside of Nellie Stone Johnson School.
The boy drove the stolen car back and forth behind the playground before driving onto the sidewalk, which is only a few feet from the playground and where kids were playing.
According to O’Hara, the car did not hit any children.
O’Hara said that the 10-year-old was found to be the driver on Thursday. After being caught, he was taken to the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Centre on charges of second-degree assault.
Fox 9 said that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said in a press statement on Friday that charges have been brought in this case. O’Hara said the boy has been charged with driving recklessly and getting stolen goods.
The attorney’s office also said that someone can not be charged if they can not help their lawyers with their defence or if they can not understand what is going on in court.
A psychologist hired by the court will decide if a person is fit and tell the judge what they think. The judge will then make the final decision. If a child is not found to be competent, they will be freed from care and the case will either be thrown out or put on hold.
“Our community is in dangerous situations because of a small group of children who are not old enough to be tried in the juvenile justice system but also can not stay at home safely,” the attorney’s office said in a statement.
“We are talking to law enforcement as well as county and state partners about how important it is to find safe and suitable out-of-home placements for kids with these complex needs who need specialised care.
” It is not possible to charge and punish our way out of this mess.
It is clear what we need: residential placements in our community with different levels of security that are equipped and staffed to handle and help our kids with complex needs, the statement said. “And we need urgent and immediate action to address this issue now.”
It is also said that the boy has stolen cars in the past; he has been caught at least twice for that crime, O’Hara said. He is also suspected in more than a dozen other crimes, such as stealing an automobile, attack with a dangerous weapon, and robbery.
The child has been in trouble with the law since May 2023. He keeps about 30 records, and most of them are about runaways.
Police told Fox 9 in a news release that the boy’s family is working with them and has asked for help to “keep their son or anyone else from being injured or killed.”
O’Hara said that charges were brought in a different case from August on Friday. In that case, the boy and some other minors threatened the woman with a knife, saying “I will gut you” as they tried to steal her car.
O’Hara said that the boy was charged with making violent threats and trying to steal a car in that case.
“It is unfathomable that a 10-year-old boy has had this level of criminal activity without effective intervention,” said O’Hara. “A 10-year-old boy should not have to go to prison.”
But the people who can stop this behaviour from happening again need to do something right now. This is just one example of the problem we have with arresting and re-arresting the same teens for theft and other dangerous crimes over and over again.
We need all the groups that are involved to work together right away to find short- and long-term solutions to this complicated problem.
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