Two Wisconsin cousins, ages 9 and 4, were driving the rural roads of Washington County over the weekend for the second time in a month.
In their latest operating without a license incident, the pair stole a car from the 9-year-old’s stepfather and took it on a Sunday morning drive through the Town of Farmington, Washington County Sheriff’s Lt. Martin Schulteis said Monday. They wanted to go to a park, the children told deputies.
The ride ended nearly six miles later in a ditch near the intersection of county Highway A and Trading Post Trail. The 9-year-old was unable to control the vehicle as it traveled eastbound in the westbound lane of Newark Drive near Indian Lore Road about 9:06 a.m. Sunday, according to a motorist who called 911.
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A sheriff’s deputy caught up to the stolen vehicle about three miles later as it swerved into the ditch, Schulteis said.
Neither child was injured and the vehicle was not damaged.
The same two children were the subject of 911 calls on June 14 when citizens reported they had taken a car from the parking lot of a boat dealership on state Highway 33 in Barton about 5:23 p.m., Schulteis said. The vehicle belonged to an employee there.
In that Saturday drive, the children drove west on Highway 33 and then turned south on state Highway 144 into the Town of West Bend, according to citizens calling 911 as they followed the suspect vehicle.
Those witnesses were able to stop the car near the intersection of Highway 144 and county Highway K, where they walked up to the vehicle, turned off the engine and removed the keys.
The two children told deputies that day they had wandered away from home in West Bend and were attempting to go to their grandmother’s house on Highway 144. Total distance driven that day was four miles.
Neither child was injured.
The sheriff’s office will not seek traffic charges against the youth in either incident, Schulteis said.
After their latest stolen car was towed from the scene Sunday, a deputy drove the children to the sheriff’s office to meet their parents and representatives of Washington County Acute Care Services. The stolen vehicle complaint was turned over to the West Bend Police Department.
2014 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel