MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police arrested a 10-year-old boy for allegedly driving a stolen vehicle near a school playground last month — and it’s not the boy’s first brush with the law, police said.

The Sept. 20 incident was caught on video. The Minneapolis Police Department said it happened at Nellie Stone Johnson School in north Minneapolis when the playground was “crowded.”

“Fortunately, no children on the playground were struck by the driver,” the department said.

Police booked the 10-year-old into the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center Thursday. According to the department, this is at least his third arrest and he is a suspect in a dozen cases ranging from “auto theft to robbery to assault with a dangerous weapon.”

“It is unfathomable that a 10-year-old boy has been involved in this level of criminal activity without effective intervention,” Police Chief Brian O’Hara said. “Prison is not an acceptable option for a 10-year-old boy. But the adults who can stop this behavior going forward must act now to help this child and his family.”

Police said the boy’s family members are cooperating and “have asked for help to keep their son or anyone else from being injured or killed.”  

Justice for metro’s youth offenders is complex, daunting issue

On Friday, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office announced criminal charges have been filed against the boy, but couldn’t comment further due to his age.

The office says if a court-appointed psychologist deems any offender, including a child, incompetent to stand trial, and a judge agrees with the recommendation, the case “must be dismissed or suspended, and the child must be released from custody.”

“We are facing an urgent crisis in our community related to a small group of children who are not competent to stand trial in the juvenile justice system, but who cannot safely be at home,” an attorney’s office spokesperson said in a statement. 

The office says it “cannot charge or prosecute our way out of this crisis,” and adds it’s working with law enforcement, county and state partners in the hope of creating “out-of-home placements” for young offenders with “complex needs.”

“What we need is clear: residential placements with varying levels of security in our community that are resourced and staffed to be able to accept and successfully treat our youth with complex needs,” the spokesperson wrote. “And we need urgent and immediate action to address this issue now.” 

Why the metro’s juvenile facility centers are shuttered

In 2019, two metro facilities for juvenile offenders were closed after being in operation for more than 100 years: Minnetonka’s Hennepin County Home School and St. Paul’s Totem Town.

The closings came after leaders in Hennepin and Ramsey counties decided to move away from the practice of confining child offenders in favor of a new data-driven system emphasizing the use of alternative methods like intensive treatment homes and community- and cultural-specific programs.

Data show since the closures, crimes committed by youths like arson, auto thefts and robberies have increased in the metro between 2019 and 2021. 

Critics, like Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin, say the shift away from confinement has backfired.

“We’re failing these kids,” Martin told WCCO in 2022. “The criminal justice system no longer holds them accountable or provides meaningful intervention to them.”

MCF-Moorhead and MCF-Red Wing are two Minnesota juvenile facilities that take in the state’s most violent young offenders. But the rest are mostly sent home after being arrested.

Lisa Clemons, founder and chief executive officer of Minneapolis-based A Mother’s Love Initiative, told WCCO in 2022 that young offenders are emboldened by the lack of consequences.

“They know it’s a revolving door downtown,” Clemons said. “They take full advantage of being juveniles, and we have allowed the lawlessness long enough that they have absolutely no fear.”

WCCO Staff

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The U.S. military struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen Friday, going after weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iranian-backed rebels, U.S. officials confirmed.

Military aircraft and warships bombed Houthi strongholds at approximately five locations, according to the officials.

Seven strikes hit the airport in Hodeida, a major port city, and the Katheib area, which has a Houthi-controlled military base, Houthi media said. Four more strikes hit the Seiyana area in Sanaa, the capital, and two strikes hit the Dhamar province. The Houthi media office also reported three air raids in Bayda province, southeast of Sanaa.

The strikes came days after the Houthis threatened “escalating military operations” targeting Israel after they apparently shot down a U.S. military drone flying over Yemen. Last week, the group claimed responsibility for an attack targeting American warships.

The rebels fired more than a half dozen ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles and two drones at three U.S. ships that were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but all were intercepted by the Navy destroyers, according to several U.S. officials.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet publicly released.

Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza started last October. They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors.

Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a U.S.-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels.

The group has maintained that they target ships linked to Israel, the U.S. or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.