8-Year-Old Takes School Van for Joyride

FORT WORTH, Texas - Parents and school leaders in the Eagle Mountain Independent School District are asking a lot of questions after a third grader stole a school van and took it out for a joyride.

School district officials said the 8-year-old boy asked his teacher at Eagle Mountain Elementary if he could leave the classroom to go to the restroom. He them slipped out a side door and hopped in a minivan that had keys in the ignition.

"The teacher noticed that it was taking longer than normal so she went to check on him. He wasn't in the restroom. She started looking for him and when she didn't find him they contacted the campus administration and we went into lockdown," said district spokeswoman Tammy Castleberry.

In the meantime, the boy managed to get about five miles down a normally busy Boat Club Road. He pulled over at the Shell gas station.

Gas station employee Donnie Smith said he spotted boy sitting behind the wheel of the van near a gas pump.

"I seen him when he pulled up over here," Smith said. "I'm just surprised how he drove up here though, because he had his hand in the sling right there. And I said man he must have been doing real good."

Other witnesses called the sheriff’s department and waited with him until deputies arrived.

Deputies turned him over to his grandparents.

But Smith said based on what he saw, he learned his lesson.

"The lady cop told him you know it wasn't the right thing. I don't know all of what she said but she was getting on him pretty good. And then his grandmother came and picked him up in the car. He was crying and stuff; it shook him up pretty good though," Smith said.