7-Year-Old Swipes His Parents’ Car Keys to get a Slushie. Doesn’t End Well.

It’s not uncommon for some kids to learn how to drive before turning 16-years-old. Some of us learned how to drive a stick shift before we even had to take Driver’s Ed. But one youngster’s quest for a slushie gave him first-hand experience behind the wheel nine years early.

7-year-old Daniel Wittenbach woke up one day with a craving for an ice-cold slushie from the local Speedway gas station. Rather than wait for his parents to wake up, little Daniel decided to take the keys to the family’s Kia Sportage and drive himself there.

This is where Daniel received a crash course (no pun intended) in driving 101. Barely reaching the pedals and with no knowledge of traffic patterns, he found himself driving the wrong way down a three-lane road while bystanders attempted to stop the vehicle. One man even attempted to smash the driver’s side window with his shirt before the Kia crashed into a Jeep.

What did Daniel think was happening? He says he believed “the car was driving by itself.”

Despite all of this, Daniel was not completely reckless. If you look closely at the family’s dashcam footage, you can clearly see him buckle up his seatbelt before leaving the driveway.