Three young boys from Ohio, all under the age of 13, led police officers on a harrowing car chase after a vehicle was reported stolen, ultimately ending when the 11-year-old behind the wheel crashed into a home, according to local authorities. The chase kicked off on Saturday, December 20, 2025, when a license plate reader alerted police in Newburgh Heights about a Mazda 3 being reported stolen in the area.
When police attempted a traffic stop after locating the stolen Mazda, the driver of the vehicle hit the gas and away they went. The car eventually crashed into a nearby home. Three boys inside the vehicle, ages 8, 11, and 12, scrambled out of the vehicle and took off on foot.
Police caught up to the boys quickly and took them into custody. Damage to the home the car crashed into was said to be minor. Footage taken from officers’ bodycams show two of the boys standing near a garage as another officer orders them to get on the ground. The third child can be seen in the distance moving toward his partners in crime after being ordered to do so by law enforcement.
The footage reveals the children were clearly terrified. “I’m sorry,” one of the boys said, asking if the authorities would contact his mother. Another said, “We’re going to jail? Oh my God.” At one point during the encounter, an officer escorts the 12-year-old to a police cruiser.
According to Fox News, the officer can be heard asking the boy, “You’re 12-years-old…stealing cars. What the hell is wrong with you?” When the kids were asked by authorities about the theft, the boys said they saw the vehicle in a store parking lot. One boy allegedly said that “something just came over his body and he could not control it, he needed to take the car.”
When the officers asked them how they knew how to steal cars, they said they learned from watching YouTube videos. After the arrest, the boys told police they were worried about how the crime would impact their Christmas.
“All three boys stated that they know right from wrong and admitted what they did was wrong,” the report went on to say. “While in our custody they were concerned about how this would affect Santa coming to bring them presents.” One of the boys taken into custody told police he was going to “get coal for Christmas” because of what they did.
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All three children were released into the custody of parents and guardians. This marks the second car theft and high-speed chase to happen in Ohio in the last month. A 16-year-old boy from Van Wert is accused of stealing two cars and leading police in a chase after making a number of threatening messages to a fellow high school student. Three handguns were found in one of the vehicles the boy drove.
Police searched the boy’s home and found two additional handguns in his bedroom. While the teen was on the run, he located a second vehicle with the door unlocked and key in the ignition, having crashed the first car. The boy crashed that vehicle and was taken to West Central Juvenile Detention Facility located in Troy, Ohio, according to WANE.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video