An eight-year-old boy has injured two people when he stole his dad's car keys and drove the car straight into an ice cream parlour.
The boy had been taken to the restaurant in Gelsenkirchen, western Germany, on June 4 by his dad as a treat.
But while his 47-year-old father was distracted talking to a friend, the bored young boy sneaked the car key for the Opel saloon into his pocket and started the car.
A police spokesman said: "In an unobserved moment, the eight-year-old, who has autism, must have grabbed the car keys and then started his father's parked car."
The boy driver emerged from the car shocked but uninjured, reported local media.
The car suddenly flew forward, smashing into a flower pot, which luckily slowed the vehicle down.
However, the car kept going and ploughed into a table and chair, sending a family with two small children diving for cover.
The car then shot into the ice cream parlour, coming to a halt with one wheel still outside.
A 57-year-old woman who was sitting inside the ice cream shop was hit by flying car parts and suffered injuries to her hand. Another member of the public, a 29-year-old man, sustained knee injuries.
Paramedics treated both, say police.
In a statement from the Gelsenkirchen Police, they said: "In an accident in Horst [a district of Gelsenkirchen] on Saturday evening, 4th June 2022, two of the visitors were slightly injured.
"A 47-year-old from Gelsenkirchen sat around 8 pm with a 52-year-old from Minden in front of an ice cream parlour on Markenstrasse while his son played in front of them.
"In an unnoticed moment, the eight-year-old took his father's car keys from the table, got behind the wheel and drove the car away.
"At a slow speed, but without braking, the car finally rolled into an adjoining room of the ice cream parlour where guests had been seated.
"A 57-year-old from Gelsenkirchen and a 29-year-old from Essen were slightly injured in the accident. Both were treated on-site by rescue workers but did not receive further treatment in the hospital.
"The boy at the wheel was unharmed."
The news comes as fourteen children were injured and their teacher killed in Germany's capital, Berlin, on Wednesday when a man drove a car into a crowd on a busy shopping street.
