11-year-old boy in stolen vehicle gravely injured in north Minneapolis crash
MINNEAPOLIS -- An 11-year-old boy who police say was a passenger in a stolen vehicle suffered life-threatening injuries when the driver crashed the car Sunday night.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, a driver in a stolen Hyundai was speeding near 42nd and Penn avenues north when it left the roadway just before 11 p.m.
Police said the car hit a pole, a tree, a sign, a fence, another vehicle, a second pole and a streetlight.
The 11-year-old passenger was taken to North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale. The driver of the second vehicle was evaluated for minor injuries.
The young boy is the latest victim connected to a stunning surge of Kia and Hyundai thefts in the Twin Cities.
"The kids are getting younger and younger. They are getting hurt, and a lot of them are dying," said Lisa Clemons of A Mother's Love Initiative. "We've lost a lot in our community. We've lost a lot."
Clemons has worked tirelessly to help teenagers find a better path, but she says many don't feel there will be any consequences for their actions.
"We keep saying in the criminal justice system, revolving door, revolving door, let's put them back out in the community that has absolutely nothing to offer them," she said.
In 2022, more than 3,000 Kia or Hyundai vehicles were reported stolen in the Twin Cities, compared to just 400 the year before.
In early March, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced an investigation into Kia and Hyundai following a staggering increase in thefts of their vehicles in the last year.
The probe centers on whether the car companies have violated the state's consumer protection and public nuisance laws by selling vehicles that don't have anti-theft protection technology installed, leaving them vulnerable to theft.
The step by Ellison's office will require the automakers to respond to questions under oath, and could lead to a lawsuit. That could then trigger a court action requiring the companies fix issues and provide financial compensation to victims.
"I think it's important for law enforcement to arrest and stop car thefts. But it's also important for Kia and Hyundai to make the cars less able to be easily stolen," Ellison said.
Clemons is hopeful the companies make changes, but says the issue of teens stealing cars runs much deeper.
"You don't know what's going on inside the houses because you are inside buildings making decisions for things that we see on the ground," Clemons said. "It will never change until you stop and you listen."
Police said they are "working to determine who else was in the stolen vehicle" at the time of the crash.
On Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara released this statement regarding Sunday night's crash:
Today we add the family of an 11 year old boy to the list of those affected by stolen Hyundais and Kias, in addition to dozens of juveniles arrested multiple times by Minneapolis police without any accountability or support from the system. We need to hold the young people involved in these crimes accountable, in order to keep them alive. Auto manufacturers need to be held to the basic standard of theft prevention that was achieved in the 1990s. Until then, our community will continue to be rocked by these preventable tragedies.