May 15, 2007 4:39 pm US/Eastern

8-Year-Old Leads Calif. Police On Pursuit

(CBS) Elk Grove, Calif. Police say a local 8-year-old led them on a chase through the streets of Elk Grove, Calif. Monday. But it doesn’t stop there. What the boy’s mother did surprised police even more.

Police say they got a call from an 8-year-old boy’s grandmother. The boy had taken the keys to the family car for a mid-day joy ride.

“We attempted to stop the vehicle using emergency lights and sirens at which point the young man did not pull over. He did not comply,” says Officer Chris Trim with the Elk Grove Police Department.

Police followed the boy for 5-10 minutes at speeds between 25 and 35 miles-per-hour down Elk Grove Boulevard.

“He had difficulty maneuvering the vehicle as far as taking turns, and at one point he did cause a collision,” says Trim.

The collision happened at Elk Grove and Fire Poppy Drive. Another driver was injured, but the boy kept heading home to his house.

“The young man was holding on to the steering wheel, wouldn’t let go, at which point the mother of the child exited the house and ran towards the officers and attacked the officers, striking several of them in the chest,” says Trim.

“The mom just ran out of the house and started fighting with police,” says neighbor Sue Wu.

Wu says she saw police subdue and arrest Heather Bollinger, the boy’s mother, for child endangerment and assault on a peace officer.

“She was spitting at police and scratching,” says Wu.

Wu tells CBS station KOVR-TV in Sacramento the child was out of school because the family was moving, and that they were going through a rough time.

Still, police are confused.

“I couldn’t tell you how an 8-year-old learns to drive and manages to lead the police department on a pursuit,” says Trim.

Bollinger is being held on $50,000 dollars bail. The child was released to his grandmother.