July 29th, 2009 @ 10:00pm
By Sandra Yi

PLAIN CITY -- The Weber County Sheriff's Office has released dash-cam video of a 7-year-old boy who went to great lengths to get out of going to church. He took the family car and led police on a low-speed chase.

The boy told deputies it was just too hot to go to church, so he went for a joyride. His parents had no idea their car and their child was missing.

"People in the neighborhood are talking about this," said Weber County sheriff's Lt. Matthew Bell.

A quiet Sunday morning in Plain City was disrupted by calls of an unusual, reckless driver.

"They could tell there was a small, young driver in the car," Bell said.

Deputies found the car near the local high school and tailed it for 10 blocks, all while the driver weaved in traffic lanes and blew through stop signs.

"The deputies at one time had pulled up kinda close to him on the side and could see it was a very small person driving the car," Bell said.

Deputies say this dime-sized, delinquent driver maintained speeds up to 45 miles an hour even though he had some trouble reaching the pedals.

"His speed was slow, but erratically; and so he would kind of scoot down lower to push on the gas and kinda sit up on the seat more to see right where he was going," Bell said.

And where he went, was home. That's when deputies got a better look at who they were dealing with: a 7-year old boy whose feet were as quick as his caper.

"Very unusual situation, very unusual. I mean, what can you say?" Bell said.

Investigators say the boy is too young to charge with a crime.They just hope his parents keep a closer eye on him.