Headed to grandma's house: 9-year-old drives car with 4-year-old passenger

WASHINGTON CO. (WITI) -- A wild ride in West Bend! Witnesses stop an out-of-control car -- and when they look inside, they see the driver is a nine-year-old boy! His passenger, just four years old! The kids told police they were on their way to grandma's house!

Police say the children took the car from the parking lot of a boat dealership and drove four miles before they were forced to stop.

911 calls came pouring in to authorities Saturday, June 14th -- reporting two young children had taken a car without the owner's consent.

It happened near State Highway 33 -- just west of the city of West Bend.

Several of the 911 callers were able to follow the children as the car was driven West on State Highway 33, then South on State Highway 144.

Once in the area of State Highway 144 and County Highway K, officials say witnesses were able to get the car stopped, approach the car, turn the car off, and remove the keys.

When officers arrived, they found that the children were the only two people in the car.

The two children indicated they wandered away from their home in the city of West Bend and were trying to get to their grandmother's house.

No injuries were reported, and no damage to property was found.

No charges are being filed by the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

The West Bend Police Department and Washington County Human Services Department will be doing follow up investigations with the children.

Meanwhile, the teenagers responsible for stopping the vehicle are speaking out.

"Every time I tell it, it's like, did this really happen?  How?" Andrew Gonring said.

18-year-old Gonring and 18-year-old Kaiden Duck were driving in separate vehicles on Saturday when they thought they had spotted a drunk driver.

"There was multiple times when I thought they were gonna flip that car or hit another person," Gonring said.

"They were all over the road, going side to side," Kaiden Duck said.

When the vehicle turned onto State Highway 144, Kaiden Duck was able to get a good look at its driver.

"He had the steering wheel right by his face and could barely see over the steering wheel," Duck said.

"He was using his blinkers, he was using gas, brakes. I was shocked!" Gonring said.

"I knew I had to do something, because I knew he wasn't the age of driving," Duck said.

Kaiden Duck dropped his truck into third gear, and passed the nine-year-old driver.

"I came around him and then came in front of him and slowed him down," Duck said.

"He went in front and I was in back, just kinda pinned him, so they couldn't go in reverse or drive anywhere else," Gonring said.

"Almost rear-ended me a couple times," Duck said.

Gonring and Duck forced the vehicle to stop, right next to Big Cedar Lake.

"I told the kid to get out of the vehicle and get in the back seat," Duck said.

Kaiden Duck drove the vehicle the boys were in into the parking lot of Wegner's Restaurant nearby. They took pictures as law enforcement officials questioned the boys.

Kaiden Duck and Andrew Gonring had the same question as the officers: Why did these little boys do this?

"It was unlocked, keys were in the car, put our stuff in there and we just left -- went to go to grandma's.  I was like, 'how do you know how to drive?'  He said, 'by watching my dad,'" Gonring said.

Kaiden Duck says the car went at least 20 miles over the speed limit, and says the boys weren't wearing seatbelts.

FOX6 News stopped by the boys' home. A woman there said the boys are doing fine, and said beyond that, she has no comment.