Two Kansas 6-year-old boys take pickup truck for joyride

By Justin Madden

(Reuters) - Two Kansas 6-year-old boys took a pickup truck on a joyride, hitting cars, a mailbox and plowing through yards before police could catch up with them, officials said on Wednesday.

One of the boys was operating the gas and brake pedals while the other one steered during the ride in the town of Newton, about 25 miles north of Wichita.

The two struck five cars along their three-block journey and crashed into a mailbox and drove through yards, police said. They jumped into the truck, grabbed the keys from the center console and drove away on Tuesday evening, police Lieutenant Scott Powell.

"I don't think they were trying to run away or anything," he said. "I think they were just making a 6-year-old's decision."

Police did not identify the boys because they are minors.

Powell said the boys did not tell police where they were going but were cooperative.

One boy was taken to Wichita Hospital for non-life threatening injuries. Both boys were eventually reunited with their parents, police said.

(Reporting by Justin Madden, Editing by Ben Klayman and Alistair Bell)