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Crime, Law and Justice
Cari Spencer

10-year-old boy arrested and charged for driving stolen car around playground

A car drives near a playground
This still frame from surveillance video shows a stolen car driving near children on the playground at Nellie Stone Johnson School in Minneapolis on Sept. 20. Minneapolis police say a 10-year-old was driving the car. No one was injured.
Minneapolis Police Department

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A 10-year-old boy has been arrested and charged after allegedly driving a stolen car around a crowded Minneapolis school playground last month.

Video footage shows the car narrowly missing multiple children, as the vehicle speeds across the lawn at the elementary school.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Friday that the boy was charged with reckless driving and receiving stolen property, as well as threats of violence and attempting to commit an auto theft, for a separate case in August.

The boy is “very well known to us,” said O’Hara. He added that the boy had been arrested at least twice for auto theft-related crimes and is listed as a suspect in more than 12 cases. Police records also show several entries for runaway cases, he said.

The 10-year-old was booked into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center Thursday for probable cause second-degree assault, according to law enforcement.

“The system doesn’t have an answer for what to do with someone this young, and that is the revolving door that we’ve been seeing over and over throughout this year,” O’Hara said, explaining a pattern of arresting, releasing, then re-arresting some children. “It’s an urgent problem that everyone at all levels of government need to come up with an answer to address.”

O’Hara said he’s concerned by what he says is a rise in youth committing serious crime, often tied to stolen cars. He said the number of kids 15 years old and younger who are victims of gun violence in Minneapolis is “higher than ever before.”

In a statement, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said charges against the 10-year-old were filed due to “very significant safety implications both for this child and the broader community.” She called attention to a “crisis” related to a “small group of children who are not competent to stand trial in the juvenile justice system, but who cannot safely be at home.”

Children who courts deem incapable of understanding legal proceedings, or assisting their lawyers in defense, cannot be prosecuted and are released from custody. Moriarty said more resources are needed for residential placements for such children — spots where staff can “accept and successfully treat our youth with complex needs.”

Lt. Kelly O’Rourke, the department’s juvenile unit commander said he’s seen too many young kids committing repeat crimes, and too many parents begging for help connecting their children to services.

“The kids are bankrupting the system by continuing to complete more and more crimes while they're waiting for these providers to reach them out in the environment,” he said. “We just need to find housing in a way to set it up for these kids to be evaluated and find the correct treatment.”