Girl, 9, and her sister, 4, walk away from head-on crash with a truck after taking their parents’ car in the middle of the night to drive from Utah to California to swim with dolphins
- The girls snuck out of their West Jordan home at 3am after taking the car keys
- They sat on the drive until 4.30am when they started their journey to the coast
- They made it 10 miles before the nine-year-old drove into a semi-truck
- No one was injured and the parents had no idea until police informed them
A nine-year-old girl who swiped her parents’ car keys and tried to drive to the beach in the middle of the night with her four-year-old sister has crashed head-on with a semi-truck.
The Utah youngsters wanted to have a 700-mile road trip to California to swim with dolphins in the ocean and made it 10 miles from their West Jordan home before the collision.
Both girls were wearing seatbelts and walked away from the crash apparently uninjured.
A nine-year-old girl who swiped her parents’ car keys and tried to drive to the beach in the middle of the night with her four-year-old sister has crashed head-on with a semi-truck
Their parents were completely unaware and were sleeping in bed until police called them to inform them of the crash.
Lt. Sean McCarthy said: ‘They told the officers they were headed to California, wanted to enjoy the beach for a few days. I don’t know that we’ll tell them they were going the wrong way.’
Detective Scott List with the West Jordan Police Department said: ‘There’s no history of this… this is a motivated kid who from what I understand wanted to go swim with dolphins in the ocean.
‘To do what she did is impressive. Scary but impressive.’
The young children who share a bedroom took the car keys at 3am and headed to the car where it took them an hour and a half to work out the basics of driving, police said.
The Utah youngsters wanted to have a road trip to California to swim with dolphins in the ocean and drove 10 miles from their West Jordan home before the collision
Both the car and the truck had to be towed and police said it could have been much worse if the girls were not wearing seatbelts
Their parents were completely unaware and were sleeping in bed until police called them to inform them of the crash
Officers asked the parents if they had talked to the girls about taking a road trip to California but they said the girls came up with the idea themselves
They headed out from the driveway at 4.30am and drove around 10 miles before they sideswiped a vehicle on the on-ramp.
A semi-truck driver thought the driver was under the influence and the nine-year-old then swerved into his path after leaving State Road 201 on to 3200 West.
Both the car and the truck had to be towed and police said it could have been much worse if the girls were not wearing seatbelts.
The semi driver got out to check on the drivers of the other vehicle and told police he could not believe his eyes when he saw who was behind the wheel.
A semi-truck driver thought the driver was under the influence and the nine-year-old then swerved into his path after leaving State Road 201 on to 3200 West
The semi driver got out to check on the drivers of the other vehicle and told police he could not believe his eyes when he saw who was behind the wheel
Lt. Sean McCarthy told Fox 13: ‘The semi-truck driver reported that there were two kids in the car and they appear very young.
‘Officers got here and discovered it was a 9-year-old driver and her 4-year-old sister.’
Officers asked the parents if they had talked to the girls about taking a road trip to California but they said the girls came up with the idea themselves.
The parents added that all doors apart from one in the basement are on a latch and the children escaped after grabbing the keys from a place ‘not normally accessible by children’.