GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. -- The two boys who wrecked a Lexus sedan were trying to drive to the beach, according to the Fluvanna County Sheriff’s Office.
The boy, ages 10 and seven, made a 37-mile trip down Interstate 64 in a vehicle taken from their guardians.
The 10-year old was behind the wheel, and crashed the vehicle in the median just past the Gum Springs exit in Goochland County, shortly after 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The boys’ guardians immediately called police after they woke up to find the kids and Lexus missing, Fluvanna deputies said.
A driver on I-64 East spotted the Lexus “driving erratically” around mile marker 148 in Louisa County. The driver followed the car 12 miles to Gum Springs, where witnesses said a police car had blocked off the exit ramp.
The ten-year old boy backed into the driver who was following them, and then crashed the Lexus in the median a short distance down the highway, accord to witnesses. No one was hurt in the wreck, officials said.
A Fluvanna sheriff’s deputy took the boys from the crash site to their home in the Wilmington area of Fluvanna County, where they were safely reunited with their guardians.
"The juveniles were transported back to their custodians' home and turned over to their custody. The juveniles stated they were going to Virginia Beach,” Fluvanna deputies wrote in a press release on the incident.
The trip lasted 37 miles from the address where the Lexus is registered to the crash site.
Steve Parrish with Andrew Parrish Towing was called to the scene. Parrish said the call came in like normal, but he was thrown to see two boys sitting on a guardrail near the crash site.
“They just tell you they got an accident, you don’t expect something like this. You get there you see grown ups. You don’t expect a 10-year old to be driving a car,” Parrish said. "They was sitting out there like they wasn’t hurt or nothing. That was the good part.”
Parrish said he is surprised a 10-year boy could make it that far driving on the interstate. The boys appeared to take a few safety precautions, Parrish said. The front seats were scooted all the way up, and Parrish asked a state trooper on scene about whether or not the boys were wearing their seat belts.
"He said, ‘You wouldn’t believe it, they had their seat belt on.’ Most people don’t wear their’s, but they had their seat belt on,” Parrish said.
