Watch: 12-year-old in stolen forklift hits 10 cars during police chase

A 12-year-old boy has been arrested after leading police in a chase in a stolen forklift truck. Using the ignition key, which was left in the cab, the boy took the vehicle, a Construction Genie GTH-636 Telehandler from outside a school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “This was a very dangerous situation that could’ve easily ended with serious injuries,” police said in a statement. ‘The incident remains an active and ongoing criminal investigation.”

Police were called when the theft was reported and found the boy driving down the road with the headlights switched off. With sirens blaring and blue lights flashing, police gave chase. The boy made erratic progress, ignoring stop signs, hitting at least 10 cars and at one point driving across a grass verge as he cut a corner.

Swerving erratically, he led the police through Ann Arbor for more than half an hour, driving at around 20 mph. Police can be heard urging the boy to “pull over now”, to no avail. The boy’s driving skills impressed some on social media.

“I thought he did a good job driving that forklift, probably better than I could have done,” one YouTube user wrote.

“The one car he hit was probably due to the cop shining a bright spotlight on him, maybe temporarily blinding him.”

Nobody was injured in the chase, and the boy, whose identity has not been disclosed, was taken to a juvenile detention centre.