(Daily Mail) This is the moment four teens in Minnesota crashed a stolen Kia against the median of an interstate before frantically running across traffic in an attempt to avoid arrest.
The incident may be part of a troubling TikTok trend that has promoted and instructed on ways of hotwiring Kia and Hyundai vehicles with as little as a USB cable.
Law enforcement agencies across the country have raised concerns about the trend, which began on TikTok in 2021 courtesy of a Milwaukee based group known as the ‘Kia Boyz.’
The thefts generally involve Kia’s newer than 2011 and Hyundai’s newer than 2015. The cars typically do not have immobilizers and can be accessed through backdoors without setting off alarms.
This most recent incident occurred in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Saturday afternoon along Interstate 35E Northbound.
The video of Saturday’s incident begins showing the white Kia drifting across lanes in St. Paul, Minnesota
Eventually, the Kia hits the median along Interstate 35E before it begins smoking
As the car starts to smoke, the teenage driver of the car abandoned the car
Soon he is joined by three other cohorts who all begin a suicidal run across the busy highway
According to Fox 9, the driver was trying to evade police tire deflation device when he began running up against the wall.
The video shows the car smoking and the four teens, a 14-year-old boy, and three girls ages 15-17, running across the busy highway. All four were eventually arrested by state troopers.
One girl is seen running into a black SUV as the group heads towards the off ramp. Two of the girls suffered injuries and were treated in a local hospital.
A state police helicopter was deployed and quickly located the car in a residential area in the city. Police cruisers went to the area and converged on the Kia.
Ernster said at that point, the teen driver sped away through the area and eventually on to the highway. The state police helicopter remained in pursuit.
The video shows one teenage girl being hit by an SUV. According to police, two teenage girls were treated for minor injuries at a local hospital
The crash in the video occurred around 15 minutes after the car was first located.
This style of theft is thought to have originated in Wisconsin beginning in 2021. As how-to videos spread on social media showing usually teenagers stealing the cars and crashing or dumping them before they are arrested.
In June, Fox 9 reported that across the Twin Cities there was an uptick in Kia and Hyundai thefts.
At the time a woman who had just bought a Kia Sol only to see it stolen and written off just outside of her home in Minneapolis, told the station that had she known how easy it was to steal the cars, she would have bought something different.
A ‘Kia Boyz’ style theft was linked to the death of a 70-year-old woman named Phoua Hang who was killed when the car she was traveling was slammed into by a stolen Kia, reports TwinCities.com.
Various viral videos have spread since 2021 showing tips on how to hotwire Kia and Hyundai cars
The issue is a particularly bad in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where ‘Kia Boyz’ related thefts account for two thirds of the city’s stolen cars
At the time of writing there have been no arrests in relation to Hang’s death.
The issue is a particularly bad in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where ‘Kia Boyz’ related thefts account for two thirds of the city’s stolen cars. It’s gotten so bad in Milwaukee that authorities have advised Kia and Hyundai owners to buy steering wheel locks or to invest in an a more advanced security systems.
In May, WISN reported that one member of the ‘Kia Boyz’, 19-year-old Antonio Carter was accused of pointing a ‘long gun’ at a police officer as he attempted to arrest him.
Carter was also accused of driving the stolen red Kia at 90 miles per hour in the ‘wrong lanes of travel’ in city.
At the time of his arrest, Carter was out on bail in two open felony cases.
The raft of thefts was so rampant towards the end of 2021 that the Milwaukee’s city council, the Milwaukee City Attorney openly said that their office was looking into filing a lawsuit against Hyundai and Kia over how apparently easy it was to steal their cars.
