Top 10 of 2025: Going to see grandma, 8-year-old drives at 85 MPH with 5-year-old brother in passenger seat

KTLO, Classic Hits, and The Boot News is continuing to revisit 2025’s most viewed and talked-about stories, presented in no particular order. Some will highlight uplifting, feel-good moments, while others may reflect more serious or somber events.
Law enforcement officers have to deal with a lot of different scenarios, but it’s not every day they have to pursue an eight-year-old driving a car 85 miles-per-hour with his five-year-old brother in the passenger seat. That is what Boone County deputies and Harrison Police officers dealt with earlier this month. It appears the 8-year-old drove the car from Pyatt all the way to Harrison, approximately 19 miles, before law enforcement got it stopped.
According to the report from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, the incident started when a caller notified 911 of a child driving a car at a high rate of speed and going off the roadway, including gone into the ditch. The caller followed the car until a deputy was able to catch up to it.

The deputy got behind the car on Highway 62/65 as it was passing 3rd Street and noted it was doing 85 miles-per-hour in a 45 miles-per-hour zone. A Harrison Police vehicle joined in the pursuit at this point and the vehicle eventually pulled over at Quality Feed. It tried to leave one time, but the Harrison officer trapped it, and the deputy jumped in the passenger side of the car, put it in park and took the keys.

The boys said they had left their father’s house in Pyatt and were going to see their grandmother who recently had surgery. When law enforcement contacted the father, he said he had been working in the yard and fell asleep and did not know the boys were gone. Another child was still in the house.

The children were taken to North Arkansas Medical Center to be checked out and then turned over to their mother who has custody and The Department of Human Services was contacted.

The report indicated a deputy from Marion County traveled to Boone County to gather information to give to the prosecutor to see if he wanted to file any charges against the father. A check with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office by KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot News found no charges have been filed as of Tuesday.

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