10-year-old steals car and drives it through playground

Police in Minneapolis arrested a 10-year-old boy who took a car and drove it through a school playground. Other children at Nellie Stone Johnson School narrowly avoided being struck and it isn't the kid's first rodeo—the BBC reports "over 30 prior entries" in a rap sheet that includes auto theft and assault.

Police chief Brian O'Hara called for urgent intervention to prevent further harm.

"It is unfathomable that a 10-year-old boy has been involved in this level of criminal activity without effective intervention," Police Chief Brian 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."

Police said the boy's family members are cooperating and "have asked for help to keep their son or anyone else from being injured or killed."  

Looks like there's crack in the local system that kids like this one fall into. They placed strict limits on the time kids can spend in juvie but have not established secure thereapeutic alternatives to it, so young suspects too messed up to be prosecuted just get released.

The office says if a court-appointed psychologist deems any offender, including a child, incompetent to stand trial, and a judge agrees with the recommendation, the case "must be dismissed or suspended, and the child must be released from custody."

"We are facing an urgent crisis in our community related to a small group of children who are not competent to stand trial in the juvenile justice system, but who cannot safely be at home," an attorney's office spokesperson said in a statement.