A New Jersey neighborhood was woken up by a loud bang early Monday morning when a pair of 13-year-old twin sisters crashed their parents’ car they had taken for a spin after growing “bored” at home.
The teens, whose identities were not disclosed, were allowed to stay up late Monday night, since they had no school on Tuesday for Veterans’ Day.
Around 2:20 a.m., the girls got so “bored” that they decided to take their mother’s SUV out for a joyride through the Canterbury Mews condo complex, according to the Washington Township Police Department.
Their ride was short-lived. The car zig-zagged across the residential road and careened onto their neighbors’ front lawns several times. They crashed into a fence, two air conditioning units and a curb at separate points, according to surveillance video shared with ABC 6.
Then, the SUV slammed into the back of a condo. The car reversed and swerved back onto the street, where the young daredevils got out and started to panic — which got their neighbors’ attention.
“Upon coming downstairs, I heard female voices screaming, ‘I’m scared, I’m scared!’” neighbor Alisa DeMayo told the outlet.
“It sounded like a bomb. I thought something crashed into my roof,” she added.
The girls, meanwhile, turned tail and sped back home.
Terrified neighbors who thought the crash sounded “like a gun going off” called the police, who had no trouble tracing the destruction back to the teens’ home on a nearby street — since the SUV parked in the driveway had apparent front-end damage.
Police woke up the homeowners and found the twins, who had safely returned home and were not injured during the crash.
“There’s no school today. They were allowed to stay up late, and they were bored and decided to take mom’s car for a ride around the development. We’re grateful. This could’ve ended tragically,” Washington Twp. Police Chief Patrick Gurcsik told ABC 6.
The condo that the girls sped into was deemed safe to inhabit by a township building inspector after the impact.
Gurcsik said that the teens will be issued traffic citations for their impromptu joyride. Citations typically include softer punishments like fines or community service.
In Gloucester Township, which is just five miles north of Washington Township, the local council approved an ordinance in late July that makes it so parents can be punished or even jailed for their children’s unruly behavior.
The ordinance was crafted in response to widespread TikTok brawls that ravaged the Garden State over the summer.
Read the full article here