Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Guardian staff

Eight-year-old Ohio girl takes mother’s car and goes shopping at Target

a Target logo on a building
An enterprising 8-year-old girl went on a joyride to her local Target store in Ohio. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters

An eight-year-old girl in Ohio took her mother’s car and drove for more than 20 minutes along busy roads to get to a local Target store – where she promptly went shopping.

The drama unfolded when Bedford police got a missing-child call that was followed up by another call “concerning a small child driving east on Rockside Road”, local TV station WJW reported.

Dash-cam video recorded from a personal vehicle driving in the area shows a man calling the police and reporting a vehicle behind him “swerving everywhere”. The swerving driver finally comes into view of the dash-cam and the man then tells police dispatchers: “It looks like a kid!”

Law enforcement launched a search for the errant child driver and her vehicle and eventually traced both to the Target store, which was at least 20 minutes through busy traffic from her home.

The girl was found in the store and her family was contacted to come and get her. No one was injured in the escapade but the child reportedly told officers she “struck a mailbox” on her trip.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.