A 7-year-old boy could barely be seen over the dashboard as he allegedly took his grandmother's car on a joyride to an Indiana mall before another motorist blocked the car and took the keys, The Star Press newspaper reported Wednesday.
Several drivers called police around 9 a.m. Tuesday to report a small child driving toward Muncie Mall on the city's north side, more than a mile from his grandmother's house. The boy, a special needs student at Muncie schools, was so small that some motorists could not see anyone behind the wheel, Police Chief Deborah Davis said.
"I'm kind of amazed at the whole thing," she said.
Matthew Sands of Hartford City said he followed the Geo Tracker into the mall parking lot and tried to block the boy from leaving as he drove into some bushes and a tree. Sands said the boy backed the car into his vehicle before he was able to get the keys away from him.
"He was awful small to be driving," Sands said.
The boy's grandmother, Lindy Smeltzer, told police she had given the boy some medicine and laid down with him for a nap, but the next thing she knew, she was getting a call from cops asking if she knew where her car was, The Star Press reported.
Child welfare workers were called to investigate the case, Davis said.
Click here for more on this story from The Star Press.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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