Video shows 10-year-old, later arrested, driving stolen car through crowded Minneapolis playground

A 10-year-old boy has been arrested after police say he recklessly drove a stolen car across a crowded Minneapolis school playground, narrowly missing multiple children.

The boy was booked Thursday into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of second-degree assault in connection with the incident around 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 20, a Friday, outside Nellie Stone Johnson Community School in the 800 block of 27th Avenue N., police said.

Police records indicate that the boy, whose identity is being withheld by law enforcement because of his age, has at least 30 entries dating to May 2023.

He has been arrested at least twice before for auto theft-related crimes, according to police. He’s also listed as a suspect in more than 12 cases that range from auto theft to robbery to assault with a dangerous weapon. The remaining entries are mostly related to cases involving running away, police said.

The boy was identified as the driver of a stolen vehicle that went on the grass and sidewalk between the school and the playground.

Surveillance video, released Friday by police, shows school staff frantically trying to move children off the playground and out of harm’s way as the car buzzes close by multiple times. The boy’s head is barely visible just above the bottom of the driver’s side window.

Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the 10-year-old’s family is cooperating with police and have asked for help to keep the boy or anyone else from being injured or killed.

“It is unfathomable that a 10-year-old boy has been involved in this level of criminal activity without effective intervention,” O’Hara said. “Prison is not an acceptable option for a 10-year-old boy. But the adults who can stop this behavior going forward must act now to help this child and his family.”