7-Year-Old Takes Kia Sportage on a Slushy Run. It Doesn’t Go Well
At least he remembered to buckle his seat belt.
I like an icy drink as much as anyone, and I fondly remember the number of times my sister and I rode our bikes to the local 7-Eleven for a Slurpee. A young boy from Middletown, Ohio, decided to do the same earlier this week, though instead of his bike, he grabbed the keys to the family's Kia Sportage. His destination? The local Speedway gas station, where an ice-cold slushy awaited him.
To little Daniel Wittenbach’s credit (and to his parents, who must be setting a good example), he can be seen on the dashcam video buckling his seatbelt before starting the car. However, not knowing anything about road rules, he drove in the wrong direction on a four-lane road, veering on and off the grassy median. Almost immediately, the 911 calls started coming in.
“There was a boy driving the wrong way, a small child in a red Kia,” one caller said, according to the video shared by WLWT.
Daniel can be seen barely reaching the pedals and was peering over the dashboard as best he could. WLWT News in Cincinnati reported that he had the radio turned all the way up as he was cruising. As the boy continued down Roosevelt Boulevard, dashcam video shows a man whipping off his shirt to break the car window to help stop the car. Daniel can be heard saying, “Stop! It’s my mom’s car.”
Another man rushed toward the car, perhaps trying to stop the Kia with his body, but the boy veered left and hit a parked Jeep, which finally ended the joyride in the middle of rush hour. His parents were alerted, and they probably had brief panic attacks before learning that he was ultimately okay.
According to the video from WLWT, the keys are kept up high on a peg, but Daniel didn’t let that slow his roll. He climbed up for the keys and set out on an adventure that fortunately didn’t end in any injuries or major damage except maybe to the Jeep and the Kia itself. Whether or not the kid got his slushy in the end wasn’t revealed.
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