Boy, five, and brother, two, crash mum's car after driving 5km to see farm animals
A five-year-old boy and his two-year-old brother have managed to escape a crash without serious injury after they somehow took a car for a drive nearly 5km in the US.
Police are still trying to work out how the two little boys got behind the wheel of a car, drove it 5km without their mother noticing, before crashing it in a ditch in Red House, West Virginia.
According to Fox 13, the boys knew their mother kept an extra set of car keys under the floor mat of her 2005 Ford Focus.
They planned on driving to their grandfather’s farm more than 11km away.
When asked by reporters if the mother knew the boys were missing, Putnam County Sheriff Steve Deweese replied, “No.”
“She thought they were in the front yard playing,” he said.
The boys managed to drive with the older brother working the pedals while the two-year-old steered.
Sharlene Wiseman, who owns the Bronco Junction Apartments where the family lives, said she found the whole incident puzzling.
“To be their age, I know my kids couldn't get in the car and make it that far,” she told WSAZ3.
Ms Wiseman said she lost a son in a motorbike accident about six years ago and told the children’s mother about the pain of her loss.
“You never get over it,” she said.
Despite criminal charges still pending, Ms Wiseman told the boy’s mother she was no longer welcome as a tenant in the “chance something might happen again”.
“I have family that live here,” she said.
“We have other tenants. Our children play out here. They're not expecting anything like a runaway car coming by.”
Local police are still working with Child Protective Services as investigations continue.
