SUNRISE, Fla. – An 11-year-old girl led police on a chase after stealing her mother's SUV and crashing into another vehicle in Sunrise, police said.
Pembroke Pines police said the girl's mother had given her daughter the key to her SUV to retrieve a book Monday morning, but when the mother went outside about 10 minutes later, she noticed that her daughter and her SUV were gone.
The mother, believing her daughter had been kidnapped, called 911.
Hollywood police spotted the SUV near University Drive and Stirling Road and attempted a traffic stop, but the driver refused to stop.
Police pursued the SUV into Sunrise, where it crashed into a BMW.
Richard Champagne said he was on his way to visit family when the SUV plowed into his BMW on Weston Road near State Road 84.
"I tried my best to avoid her," Champagne told Local 10 News.
Champagne's head cracked the windshield of his car, and the airbags deployed.
The girl was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
Police said the girl took her mother's SUV without permission. She faces charges of aggravated fleeing, fleeing and eluding police and driving without a license.
"I hope that she's OK, because I'm pretty sure that this accident could have been worse," Champagne said.