11-year-old in critical condition after crash in Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - People living near the intersection of 42nd Avenue North and Penn Avenue North in Minneapolis are still wrapping their heads around what happened overnight after a crash sent an 11-year-old boy to North Memorial Hospital on the verge of death.

"It’s heartbreaking, it’s terrifying," neighbor Linda Lynch said. "I woke up this morning and I could not think about anything else but that poor kid."

Minneapolis Police say a stolen Hyundai was speeding when it lost control, left the road, took down a fence and struck a stopped car.

The 11-year-old was a passenger in the stolen car. But investigators are still working to piece together the rest of the story.

"The girl said that the young boy had his head hanging out the window," Lynch said. Lynch was on scene moments after the wreck, and she says she did all she could to help a group of four children. "His body was contorted… It was so smashed up, he had a major head wound."

Lynch described one of the children as especially distraught, "She said, ‘that’s my little brother, that’s my little brother,’" Lynch explained.

But just as quickly as they showed up, they were gone, "when the cops got here, they just took off," Lynch said.

In a statement, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara wrote:

"Today we add the family of an 11-year-old boy to the list of those affected by stolen Hyundais and Kias, in addition to dozens of juveniles arrested multiple times by Minneapolis police without any accountability or support from the system. We need to hold the young people involved in these crimes accountable, in order to keep them alive. Auto manufacturers need to be held to the basic standard of theft prevention that was achieved in the 1990’s. Until then, our community will continue to be rocked by these preventable tragedies."