10-Year-Old Caught Stealing Sleeping Parents' Car to Buy Cheerios

A 10-year-old boy from Minnesota was nabbed by police after he stole his parents' minivan while they were asleep for the sole purpose of buying Cheerios.

Boxes of Cheerios cereal sit on the shelf at a grocery store.
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Image via Getty/Justin Sullivan

Boxes of Cheerios cereal sit on the shelf at a grocery store.

Police in Stillwater, Minnesota spotted a 10-year-old boy driving his parents’ car last week as he was en route to the grocery store to buy a box of Cheerios, KSTP-TV reports

Authorities were doing a routine patrol Sunday night when a young boy was seen behind the wheel of a Chrysler minivan that had stopped in the middle of the street. The officer activated his emergency lights, and tracked the vehicle, which proceeded to accelerate up to 50 mph and blow through a stop sign. The officer was finally able to block the minivan’s path, but not before he went through an intersection in reverse and went up an embankment into the front yard of a residence. 

The boy told the officer that his father wanted him to go out and buy Cheerios in order for him to have cereal before heading off to school in the morning. The officer asked the child if his father had been intoxicated when the demand was made, and he agreed. However, when they returned to the boy’s home, his parents were asleep and sober. The boy confessed that he actually had snuck out to get Cheerios. 

No injuries were reported from the incident, but the minivan did sustain some minor damage. There’s no word yet on if the police will punish the boy, or how long his parents plan on keeping him grounded. We also cannot explain why a 10-year-old would want to go through all this for a box of Cheerios, of all cereals.

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