Girl, 10, takes SUV for wild ride

updated 2:52 a.m. ET May 22, 2006

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A 10-year-old girl who drove off with her guardian's sport utility vehicle with a toddler and a 5-year-old on board crashed the vehicle into several cars, authorities said.

The girl sideswiped several cars during her 15-minute drive Thursday night and reached speeds up to 50 mph, said Ted Roy, spokesman for the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.

"She was so little she had to go down and hit the gas and pop her head back up to see where she was going," Roy said.

The girl had grabbed her guardian's keys and walked out of her house without telling the guardian she was leaving, authorities said.

Dispatchers received calls about an SUV driving recklessly, and sheriff's deputies and highway patrol officers followed the vehicle. The trip ended when the SUV jumped a curb and hit a fire hydrant.

The children suffered minor injuries, Roy said.

Sheriff's deputies charged the girl as a juvenile with kidnapping and false imprisonment and vehicle theft.

The highway patrol charged her with careless driving, not having a driver's license and not using a child restraint.

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