
 
 CTVNews.ca Staff 
 
 
 
 
 
 An 11-year-old was caught driving on Ontario’s Highway 400 Saturday after a night of playing Grand Theft Auto, the Ontario Provincial Police say. 
 
 According to Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the OPP’s Highway Safety Division, police received reports after 11 p.m. Saturday of an erratic-moving vehicle just north of Toronto. 
 
 “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. 
 
 LIVE on #Periscope: An 11 year old driver stopped on Hwy 400 and more impaired drivers https://t.co/mXpgYJR9Fd — Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD) November 27, 2016 
 
 The driver was heading northbound on Highway 400. Police say the driver exited at King Road, and then got back on the highway, this time going southbound. That’s when an OPP officer attempted to pull him over. 
 
 “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.” 
 
 With the driver now speeding at over 120 km/h, a second officer arrived. The OPP were eventually able to box the car in and bring it to a rolling stop. 
 
 Police were shocked to find an 11-year-old boy behind the wheel. 
 
 “(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. 
 
 Grand Theft Auto is a series of popular and violent video games in which players climb through the ranks of the criminal underworld through murder, car theft and high-speed driving. According to Schmidt, the child’s parents were sleeping at the time of the stunt. 
 
 In an interview with CTVNews.ca, Schmidt added that he was glad the joyride didn’t end in tragedy. 
 
 “Fortunately no one was killed,” Schmidt said. “In real life, there’s no reset button.” 
 
 The child was returned home by police. The car was also towed back home. No charges have been laid. 
 
 “He’s only eleven years old,” Schmidt said. “We’re leaving it up to the parents to determine what an appropriate punishment would be.” ||||| OPP Sergeant Kerry Schmidt said police were called to the area of Hwy. 400 near King Road just before midnight Saturday for a vehicle driving erratically. 
 
 “The vehicle exited off King Road, and that’s where officers picked it up,” he said. 
 
 The vehicle, travelling about half the speed limit, then spun around and headed southbound on King Road according to police. 
 
 11 year old boy returned to parents after failing to stop for police on Hwy400… 
 
 Wanted to drive after playing #GrandTheftAuto — Sgt Kerry Schmidt (@OPP_HSD) November 27, 2016 
 
 “The officer [in his vehicle] came up beside it, saw what looked like a child, activated his lights and then the vehicle actually accelerated to well over the speed limit,” Schmidt said. 
 
 Police said the vehicle came to a complete stop on the shoulder, after which an officer exited his cruiser and approached the driver. 
 
 “Then the vehicle took off again,” Schmidt said. 
 
 More officers were called in at this point and they managed to box the vehicle in without injury or collision. 
 
 The driver, an 11-year-old boy, told them he was playing Grand Theft Auto and “wanted to see what it was like to drive a car,” said Schmidt. 
 
 “I was absolutely shocked. We thought it was a drunk driver originally.” 
 
 Grand Theft Auto is a popular action-adventure racing game developed by Rockstar North. The title is known for its high-adrenaline game play and dynamic visuals. 
 
 “It’s pretty frightening to think of what could have happened — all over the highway with no experience and with the mindset of running from the cops,” Schmidt said. 
 
 “That’s certainly a recipe for disaster.” 
 
 Schmidt believes the chase lasted several kilometres before the 11-year-old driver was safely stopped. ||||| The OPP were confronted by a bizarre incident on Saturday night when they pulled over an 11-year-old driver on Hwy. 400: The boy had been playing Grand Theft Auto and decided to borrow his parents’ car to see what real driving was like. 
 
 “It could have been a fatality,” said OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt in a Periscope video Sunday afternoon. 
 
 OPP units received a call about an erratic driver on Saturday. The car was going north on Hwy. 400 near Major Mackenzie Dr., and was described as swerving between lanes and driving at half the speed limit. 
 
 The car got off the highway at King Rd., but then turned around and went south on Hwy. 400 again, this time driving “well over the speed limit,” going about 120 km/hr, said Schmidt. 
 
 More units got involved and eventually stopped the car, and discovered that the driver was 11 years old.
– Yet another reason to not let young kids play M-rated video games: They may get ideas they carry over to real life. At least that's what apparently happened to one curious 11-year-old boy in Ontario, who cops say spent Saturday evening playing Grand Theft Auto, then set out in his parents' car while they were sleeping to check out what the real deal felt like, CTV News reports. Sgt. Kerry Schmidt of the Ontario Provincial Police says reports started filtering in after 11pm of a vehicle that was "all over the highway" just north of Toronto. In a Periscope post on the police department's Twitter page, Schmidt describes how officers went after what they suspected was an "impaired driver," who first crawled along much slower than the speed limit, then rushed away from cops at more than 75mph. The police were eventually able to box the vehicle in, and were thrown by the kid they found in the driver's seat. "[The boy] had just been finishing playing Grand Theft Auto at home and wanted to find out what it was like driving a car," Schmidt says. He adds, per Global News: "It's pretty frightening to think of what could have happened, all over the highway with no experience and with the mindset of running from the cops." Schmidt says no charges are being filed—the OPP is letting his parents decide how best to deal with his behind-the-wheel transgression. As for others thinking of skipping driver's ed, "GTA is not the way to learn how to drive," Schmidt says, per the Toronto Star.