**12-Year-Old Boy Drives 160 Miles in Stolen Car Before Being Stopped by Deputies**

A young boy, only 12 years of age, managed to drive his grandfather's stolen vehicle approximately 160 miles across a major mountain freeway in Washington State before being apprehended by law enforcement officers on the day before Thanksgiving.

The incident began when police in Issaquah, a town near Seattle, alerted the Grant County Sheriff's Office that the boy had allegedly taken his grandfather's Volkswagen hatchback. Authorities believed the boy was heading towards Moses Lake in Grant County due to his connections to the area, according to Kyle Foreman, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office.

"For a 12-year-old to take a vehicle and drive such a long distance, we were relieved that we managed to stop him before any potential harm came to him or others," Foreman told USA TODAY.

To cover the distance, which spanned over the Cascade mountain range, the boy traveled roughly two-and-a-half hours on Interstate 90, passing through Snoqualmie Pass, which has an elevation of 3,000 feet. Considering it was the day before Thanksgiving, the traffic was heavier, and the National Weather Service recorded near-freezing temperatures with accumulated snow for the mountain pass.

The Grant County Sheriff's deputies found the Volkswagen parked around 10 a.m. in a residential area once used as military housing for the old Larson Air Force Base. The boy then led deputies on a brief pursuit. Foreman noted that due to the curved streets in the area, the boy couldn't accelerate much. However, once he reached a flatter and more open region near Randolph Road and State Route 17, close to the Grant County airport, deputies executed a PIT maneuver, causing the vehicle to come to a halt.

The young driver was subsequently booked at the Chelan County Juvenile Justice Center on charges of possessing a stolen vehicle and felony eluding, as confirmed by a social media update from the Grant County Sheriff's Office.