12-Year-Old Queens Boy Takes Family’s SUV On Joyride With 7-Year-Old Cousin, Reaches Delaware Border

A 12-year-old Queens boy, who stole his family’s SUV and drove to the Delaware border with his 7-year-old cousin, was brought back home by authorities following an intense search.

The children had embarked on a joyride in the family’s Range Rover on Monday. However, it came to an end when the authorities picked them up from along the New Jersey-Delaware border after they tried to buy cookies with a stolen credit card, The New York Daily News reported, citing authorities.

It takes nearly 4 hours to reach Delaware from Queens by road.

The kids were picked up from a shopping plaza near the New Jersey Turnpike highway just before 2.00 p.m. ET, the outlet reported, citing the police, and were driven back home before 6 p.m. ET. The children weren’t hurt but were taken to a local hospital for observation, the New York Daily News reported.

The unidentified 12-year-old boy had stolen the keys to the family's SUV, parked outside their South Ozone Park home, when his mother was taking a shower, the New York Post reported.

"The kids are OK. Everybody’s fine," their uncle, Joe Gangaram, told reporters after they were returned to their guardians.

The NYPD had launched a citywide search operation to find the runaway kids. As part of the search, the police tracked the stolen vehicle through EZPass toll booth readers and license plate readers as they drove past the Belt Parkway onto the Verrazano Bridge and into Staten Island.

A police source told the New York Daily News the kids may have been inspired by an internet challenge which asked them to keep driving until the gas runs out.

"Apparently, the [boy] was on the internet shortly before getting in the car," the source told the publication.

"As a parent, it’s nerve-wracking. How did he learn how to drive a car?," a neighbor Nicola Prudenti, 74, told the New York Post. "I’m so glad they are safe."