11-Year-Old Caught Driving on Ontario Highway After “A Night of Playing Grand Theft Auto”

Ok let’s get this straight right now! We’re not saying video games get the blame for XYZ, as so many other members of the media as so quick to do. However, we will kick things off by asking “why the hell was an 11-year-old playing Grand Theft Auto in the first place?” I only ask that as I’ve got two kids of my own, one that age, he’s never played it… as a parent, I haven’t found keeping my son and that game separate difficult. Now, back to the story at hand.

An 11-year-old was found driving on Highway 400 after 11pm this weekend in Ontario, allegedly after a night of playing Grand Theft Auto say Ontario Provincial Police.

“Drivers called it in thinking it was probably an impaired driver, because the vehicle was all over the highway,” Schmidt said in a video posted to the OPP’s Highway Safety Division Twitter page on Sunday. “The vehicle was first… going under the speed limit – like about half the speed limit,” Schmidt said. “As the officer tried to get out and talk to this driver, find out what was going on… the vehicle took off again.”

The car is said to have reached 120 km/h after it took off, warranting the attendance of a second officer, who was able to help box in the car and bring it to a rolling stop. “Police were shocked to find an 11-year-old boy behind the wheel.” said CTVnews, and I’m sure they were!

“(He) had just been finishing playing Grand Theft Auto at home and wanted to find out what it was like driving a car,” Schmidt said. “Fortunately no one was killed,” Schmidt said. “In real life, there’s no reset button. He’s only eleven years old,” Schmidt said. “We’re leaving it up to the parents to determine what an appropriate punishment would be.”

Unfortunately the child’s parents were asleep at the time of the incident, but I hope that they at least 1) remove access to a copy of GTA and 2) put their car keys out of reach.

“The child was returned home by police. The car was also towed back home. No charges have been laid.” CTVnews

I’m not sure who’s to blame here, maybe it is just a kid who snuck downstairs to play his parents games, then did something really stupid, like steal the family car. I don’t know, either way, I don’t think GTA is the problem.