11-year-old boy drives 200 miles to meet stranger from Snapchat

[mfcorey1]

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- An 11-year-old boy is back with his family after police said he drove 200 miles to meet an unknown male he met on Snapchat.

Police in South Carolina said the boy drove alone from Simpsonville all the way to Charleston.

Authorities said he pulled up next to a police officer around 12:30 a.m. Monday.

Officer Christopher Braun realized the child was the only person in the car. The boy told the officer he had driven for three hours and was lost.

The child told Braun he had taken his brother's car and was using the GPS on his father's tablet to find an address in Charleston an unknown male had given him through Snapchat. The address was lost when his GPS signal went out.

https://abc7chicago.com/11-year-old-boy-drives-200-miles-to-meet-stranger-from-snapchat/5565117/

[unblock]

1. might have been very lucky he wasn't able to reach the destination.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. A couple of thoughts here.

One is How in the world would an 11 year think it's okay to take a family car? Has he ever done anything like this before? Have the parents allowed him to drive before? And if they have, they are complete idiots.

The 14 or 15 year old daughter of some friends took a family car (this is some years back) and decided to drive to Florida from Kansas City. I don't recall the details, but think she might have been planning to meet a boyfriend. It was a couple of days before the parents tracked her down. One of the things the mom was most upset about (and they were upset about the entire episode) was that the daughter had slept in road side rest stops along the way. However, that was what mom herself often did when on long drives. Kids learn from what they see their parents doing. I'm pretty sure the girl didn't yet officially drive, but one down side of automatic transmissions is all you have to do is start the car, put it in drive, and aim it where you want to go.

Among the reasons I continue to drive a stick shift is that some 11 year kid isn't going to be able to drive it.