On Saturday April 30, a four-year-old boy was found in the streets of Overvecht. In his pajamas, barefoot, he was spotted by a passerby who immediately called the police: the mini-pilot had just collided with two cars with his mother’s car.
The police quickly made the connection between the child and the found car: first the mother of the child, the owner of the vehicle, was involved. Initially, police believed she was behind the incident. West France tells us that the police understood by seeing the little man mimicking a driving motion of the steering wheel:
† We asked if [le garçonnet] could show us how the car worked, the police said in a statement on Instagram. [L’enfant] opened the car with the key and plugged it in. He started the car, shifted into gear with his left foot and hit the accelerator. †
Wanting to impersonate his father leaving for work earlier in the morning, the little man had taken the keys to his mother’s car. Driven by this wave of independence, he had gone for a walk in the neighbourhood. Walk quickly ended when the boy hit two other vehicles.
The episode will have sparked more fear than evil: the little boy is safe and sound. The parents have decided to keep the keys out of his reach. The police, for their part, had fun with this unusual episode: they offered the mini-pilot a hug and a hot chocolate. The child even got a new nickname, Max Verstappen, (the reigning Batavian Formula 1 world champion).
A baby bird that has fallen out of the nest and has to be patient: it is still a bit early to fly alone!