Cops Drew Their Guns. They Didn't Expect What Came Next

Cops say two Florida tweens said to be upset about a punishment handed down by their mom decided to run away—by taking their mom's car and trying to drive to California. Per the AP, the Alachua County Sheriff's Office became involved when deputies pulled over a sedan on Interstate 75, north of Gainesville, just before 4am on Thursday. Thinking there were car thieves inside, the deputies drew their guns and commanded those inside the vehicle to exit it, but "much to their surprise, Deputies observed a 10 year old male driver exit the vehicle, along with his 11 year old sister," the sheriff's office notes in a Facebook post.

The kids were 200 miles away from their home in North Port, where authorities say their mother had raised their ire by taking away their electronic devices "because they were not using them appropriately," per the sheriff's office. She'd reported them both missing and her car stolen shortly after they took off. Conversations with the children didn't lead the deputies to believe that they "were mistreated by their parent or any other person within the home," and the kids' mom was called to make the three-hour-plus drive north to pick them up.

"Our Detectives did speak with their mother at length who was clearly doing her best to raise two young children," the sheriff's office noted. The mom opted not to press criminal charges against her runaway kids, and it doesn't look like the case will proceed further, as the only criminal charge that could otherwise be brought is driving without a valid license, per WTSP. "This crime is a criminal traffic violation and a juvenile will not be accepted into the department of juvenile justice for misdemeanor criminal traffic," the sheriff's office wrote. (More runaway stories.)