Utah girl, 9, driving with 4-year-old sister, crashes car into big rig; no injuries reported
06/03/2021 3:16 pm PDT
WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (TCD) --
West Valley City Police officers responded to a traffic collision near a freeway Wednesday morning and found two girls alone in a car.
Police said a 9-year-old girl and her 4-year-old sister took the keys to their parents’ car and drove about 10 miles from their West Jordan home before the accident occurred. The parents were reportedly sleeping when the girls left, police said.
Police said the 9-year-old driver piloted the car onto a freeway, exited the freeway, then drove over a median and collided “head-on” into a semi-truck. The car was seriously damaged. The semi-truck also had to be towed, police said.
No injuries were reported. Police said both girls were wearing their seatbelts.
“The girls told officers that they were headed to California because they wanted to ‘swim in the ocean,’” West Valley Police said.
Officers got quite a surprise when they responded to an accident this morning & discovered the driver was a 9yo girl. The young girl & her 4yo sister apparently snagged the keys to the family car while their parents were sleeping & set out on their own summer adventure. #wvc pic.twitter.com/evHq3DiBRC
— WVC Police (@WVCPD) June 2, 2021 @WVCPD
KSTU-TV reports the girls had left home around 3 a.m., and “it took them about an hour and a half to figure out the basics of driving before heading out on the open road.”
Shortly after 5 a.m., the 9-year-old drove the car down the off-ramp east off of State Road 201 onto 3200 West, directly into the path of a big rig attempting to get onto the freeway.
Police woke the parents up at home, KSTU reports.
“They were shocked,” West Jordan Police Detective Scott List told KSTU. “They had no idea.”
MORE:
