Boy, 2, Takes Family’s Car but It’s No Joy Ride

A 2-year-old boy turned the key in the ignition of a station wagon, put the transmission into gear and then smashed into a tractor-trailer rig, the California Highway Patrol said.

“I wasn’t hurt and the baby wasn’t hurt,” truck driver Elven Clausen told the Monterey Herald in an interview published Friday. “Thank goodness.”

According to the Highway Patrol, Jorge Diaz Jr. on Tuesday crawled into his parents’ station wagon, which was parked in front of the family home with the keys in the ignition.

Then, the patrol said, Jorge started the car and put it in gear. The vehicle went across a flat field and onto a busy street.

Clausen said he saw “two guys running across a field and waving their arms for someone to stop.”

“Next thing I knew, here comes a car out of a lane of traffic into my lane. At first, I thought there was nobody in the car, so I pulled to the far right and came to a stop.

“About three seconds later, the car hit the front of the truck, and the little baby flew up and hit the steering wheel and bounced back in the seat and slid down into the seat.”

Jorge’s parents had no comment on the accident.