A 9-year-old boy stopped a would-be thief who was trying to steal his father’s truck after the older man left it idling at a gas station in Indiana, according to a report.
Kevin Cookey left his son, Larry Larimore, inside his truck when he stopped at the One Stop Express in Kokomo to pick up ibuprofen for his wife, WTHR reported Tuesday. When Cooksey returned, he saw his truck door was open.
"I was like, 'Oh my God, what am I going to tell my wife?'" Cooksey told WTHR. "I was thinking (that) I (hoped) my son knew what to do in that situation."
Larry Larimore told the news station that he got scared when a man opened one of the truck's doors while he was waiting for his dad to return, so he grabbed a pellet gun that was in the truck and pointed it at the man's head. In the face of the weapon, the man ran away and jumped into a Chevrolet TrailBlazer that another man had left idling nearby, according to WTHR.
The SUV's owner, Kyle Sparling, told WTHR that he froze when he spotted the man stealing his TrailBlazer. Cooksey sprang into action, telling Sparling to get in his truck. WTHR reported the men called police and chased the suspect as he zig-zagged away from the gas station.
"I wanted to go catch the guy," Cooksey told WTHR. "It's just one of those instincts to help out somebody else."
He told the news station that at one point, the chase reached speeds of 70 mph.
“I thought he was going to come back at me,” Cooksey said. “I thought I was going to have to dodge a moving car with my 9-year-old son in the truck.”
The thief crashed Sparling's SUV a few miles away from the gas station, according to WTHR. The thief was not identified, although WTHR reported he was in custody Tuesday evening.
"I was just glad he didn't wreck into anybody," Sparling told WTHR. "That was my biggest fear, I think."
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