'I did it to kill people,' 10-year-old allegedly tells police after driving truck through home

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A 10-year-old girl got behind the wheel of a pickup truck and crashed it into a family's Kentucky home, according to police. When police arrived and questioned the child, she allegedly told them, "I wanted to kill people," WDRB reported.

There’s no clear indication of how the little girl got the keys to the truck.

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Joshua Pate, the father of the family whose home was struck, had just returned home from work Friday afternoon when the truck came plowing into his home. Pate, who said five children were sitting in the living room, believes a piece of furniture may have saved the children’s lives by taking the brunt of the blow.

“The loveseat slid around and made kind of like a barrier ... The back of it is kind of high, and I think the kids just slid with the loveseat,” he told WDRB.

The girl who was driving the truck was uninjured, police said.

Pate said he heard the girl talking to police, and he said he was shocked by the words that came out of her mouth.

"(The officer) couldn't believe what she said. He was like, 'Excuse me?' and she said, 'I wanted to kill people,' and he said, 'I'm sorry, what did you say?' and she said, 'I wanted to kill people," Pate told WDRB.

Moments before the girl crashed the truck into the home, she collided with driver Kristina Bryan, police said. According to WDRB, Bryan’s vehicle was hit so hard that it spun several times, leaving gashes in the pavement and Bryan’s vehicle totaled.

“When I heard it was a 10-year-old girl, my first reaction should have been, ‘Is she OK?’ but when I looked down, there she was, walking from the truck to get into the back of a cop car. I knew she was OK,” said Bryan, who has minor scrapes and bruises. “Where was the parents when this little girl even got into the car? How did this little girl even get access to the keys?”

That question remains unanswered, and the case is still under investigation.

Pate’s family is renting the damaged home, and they’ll be forced to live elsewhere for at least a month while the house gets repaired. Pate said he has forgiven the girl, but he is still waiting to hear from someone from her family.

"All we want is an apology from the family, pretty much," Pate told WDRB. "We haven't heard from them and haven't heard from anybody."

The girl’s family, when identified, will likely soon be hearing from Pate and Bryan. Both said that they plan to take legal action against the girl’s parents.

Cox Media Group