RALEIGH -- When the Ford Expedition stopped in front of Enloe High School on Tuesday, it made at least some sense: The passenger, 16-year-old Deandre Jacquaris Woodin, was a freshman at the school.
But most vehicles dropping students off at school aren't pursued by police cars. Even more unusual, the boy police said was driving the 5,000-pound truck was just 11 years old.
The truck was taken just after 6 a.m. when the owner left the motor running to warm up the interior while he went into a convenience store on New Bern Avenue near the high school, Raleigh police spokesman Jim Sughrue said.
A police officer spotted the truck about 10:30 a.m. on New Bern Avenue near WakeMed and followed for about a mile.
The SUV made a right turn and stopped near the school entrance. The driver bolted for some nearby trees, and Woodin ran into the school, prompting school officials to call a code-red lockdown. For about an hour, students were kept in their rooms, and doors were locked throughout the school.
The officer who had spotted the truck quickly hunted down the driver, and Woodin was found hiding in the cafeteria, Sughrue said.
It was unclear how long the 11-year-old had been driving the truck, Sughrue said. Neither boy was charged Tuesday with stealing it, but the investigation wasn't complete.
Woodin was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and obstructing an officer. The younger boy was charged with the same offenses and driving without a license.
Woodin's mother, Kimicka Woodin, said that the younger boy had come to Enloe with the SUV and picked up her son.
"I don't know who stole it, but that's who showed up with it," Woodin said.
Woodin said that her son had only been a passenger in the truck for a few minutes when the police car pulled in behind it.
"It was a split-second decision, and he made a bad choice," she said.
Five unattended vehicles left running have been stolen in the past week, nearly a third of all stolen vehicles reported in the city, Sughrue said.
