Boy, 8, craving burger, drives dad's van to McDonald's

The boy drove the car about 1.6 km to get to McDonald's.

A craving for a McDonald's cheeseburger apparently prompted an 8-year-old Ohio boy to take his 4-year-old sister for a ride in his dad's van, which he learned to drive on the internet.

East Palestine police officer Jacob Koehler tells WJW-TV in Cleveland the father went to bed Sunday and the mother fell asleep on the couch with the kids.

The youngster had his four-year-old sister in tow when he made the trip from his house to the fast food joint in East Palestine on Sunday evening, according to Daily Mail.

The children's parents were sleeping at the time, the Weirton Daily Times reported.

Employees at the restaurant believed it was a joke as the boy got to the drive-through window after he ordered a cheeseburger and planned to use his piggy bank money for the purchase, according to the newspaper.

East Palestine Patrolman Jacob Koehler was the one to respond to the McDonald's, the paper said.

Koehler told the outlet: "The workers thought that the parents were in the back, but obviously they weren't."

He said: "I think there is a good teaching point here. With the way technology is anymore kids will learn how to do anything and everything.

"This kid learned how to drive on YouTube. He probably looked it up for five minutes and then said it was time to go."

Koehler told the paper that witnesses said the boy adhered to traffic rules.

The patrolman explained: "He didn't hit a single thing on the way there. It was unreal."

The underage driver was crying when he became aware that he'd done something wrong, the newspaper said.

The children were able to chow down when they were waiting for their grandparents to show up and bring them to a police station, where their parents got them, the report said.

No charges have been filed in the case.