PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Latarian Milton, 7, took his grandmother’s car because, he says, “I got mad at my mom.” Soon after becoming enraged, he and a seven-year-old friend, who Milton says “smoked with cigarettes,” went on a joyride. He drove for miles, and along the way hit parked cars and mailboxes. The cops booked him for grand theft auto. Unable to place the boy in any sort of juvenile detention facility, they released him to his grandmother, who described an unrealizable desire to whip the boy.
The police asked Latarian if he understood that his grandmother would be responsible for paying for the damages to the cars and mailboxes. He seemed to absorb this information, and he asked if his mother was allowed to help pay the damages. As for the reason for the joyride, “I wanted to do it because it’s fun, fun to do bad things, to drive into a car,” Latarian said. “I wanted to do hood rat stuff with my friend.”
News reports say that the boy’s joyride ended at Investment Lane and Consumer drive. Oh, but you know how these stories get passed along.
It’s unclear who decided the boy would speak to the media. Why did the media even ask to speak with him? And if she did, why did the grandmother assent?
Ellen Lovejoy seems to be the spokesperson for the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department.