A 12-year-old Florida girl stole her dad's car before picking up a friend and driving across state lines, all to possibly meet a person that she had met online, officials say.

As reported by NBC News, an alert for a missing child was raised on Thursday morning (April 6), after the 12-year-old, along with her 14-year-old friend were last spotted in their hometown of Lake Butler, Florida.

Jade Gregory and Khloe Larson traveled in Jade's father's Ford Taurus toward Louisiana where the person they had allegedly been communicating online with was based.

The pair were seen on Main Street and County Road 237 in Lake Butler after the 12-year-old had picked up her friend from her home.

Twelve-year-old Jade Gregory got behind the wheel of her dad's car before driving over 400 miles. Credit: Florida Department of Law Enforcement

As per the Daily Mail, the duo made it over 400 miles from Gainesville in Florida to Alabama where they turned themselves in after realizing they were been searched for.

The Union County Sheriff's Office wrote in a statement, via the Mail, on Thursday morning after the girls had been found: "We have canceled our active missing children alert.

"Many thanks to the multiple agencies involved throughout Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana to include the FBI and FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement]. Thank you for all the tips and information received."

The alert which was raised at 11:50 AM was resolved by 4:00 PM, meaning they spent five hours on the road, including driving on interstates.

The pair were found safe after a five-hour search. Credit: Union County Sheriff's Office

Officials are exploring the possibility that they were lured to go on the drive by somebody they met online, but this remains unconfirmed.

Chief Deputy Captain Lyn Williams said the department had some information that raised "red flags" about the supposed person that the girls had been chatting to, and the matter has now been turned over to the FBI.

Khloe Larson had also allegedly been chatting to the supposed online person, and the FBI is now investigating. Credit: Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Both girls are now safely at home with their families.

Featured image credit: Pat Canova / Alamy

On cop shows and TV dramas, the daily activities of police officers are always shown to be fast-paced and action-packed - but that's rarely the case in real life. This is not necessarily because nothing dramatic ever happens, though. No, it's probably got something more to do with the fact that a lot of criminals are downright stupid.

Yesterday, in Lufkin, Texas, one bumbling criminal tried to get away with stealing a vehicle while being pursued by police officers. Unfortunately for him, his driving skills weren't quite up to par, and he ended up crashing into the side of a house only a matter of seconds after evading the cops.

According to a post on Lufkin police's Facebook page, the perpetrator was 30-year-old Brandon Light, and was known to the owners of the stolen vehicle.

"A woman said she was leaving the motel in the vehicle around midnight when Light, whom she knows, removed the keys from the ignition. She said she then got out of the vehicle and began walking away with her purse when Light confronted her, yanked the purse from her shoulder and took the vehicle.

"As officers arrived on scene, the vehicle - a white Chevy Equinox - pulled back into the parking lot. Officers approached the vehicle and told Light to stop, but he took off, headed north on Timberland Drive.

"The chase ended a short time later when Light crashed into a house and vehicle at the corner of Clark Avenue and Bowles Street."

You can see footage of the pursuit here:

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According to the police department, "The woman told officers she did not want to press charges against Light for taking her purse. Her husband, who was asleep at the time of the incident, said he did want to file charges against Light for stealing the vehicle and the damage he caused in the crash."

Connecticut police have shared the footage of the dramatic moment a man successfully fights off four would-be car thieves on his own driveway.

Officials from the Rocky Hill Police Department say that the incident took place just after 7:00PM on April 10, and saw the plans of four car thieves thwarted by one dedicated car owner.

As reported by the New York Post, chaos seemingly erupted out of nowhere on the quiet driveway in the suburb of Hartford, when one young man can be seen jogging into the driveway and opening the door of a park red car.

However, after gaining access to the vehicle, a man appears to race out of the family home and drags the wannabe thief out of the car.

Watch the moment unfold below:

The man can be heard yelling at the thief: "Get out of here! Who do you think you are?"

As the scuffle continues, a second young man runs onto the driveway to assist the thief. Within seconds, two more young men run over and the apparent car owner is bombarded with shots to the head and chest.

However, the thieves quickly scatter and run after a woman can be heard shouting: "I’m calling the cops!"

Nevertheless, the man attempts to hold onto the foot of one of the thieves for as long as he can before he wriggles free and flees.

Credit: Rocky Hill Police Department

The Rocky Hill Police Department writes in its post: "The incident was recorded on the homeowner’s surveillance camera. The surveillance video is being released in an attempt to identify the suspects. The depiction of the video and its audio may be upsetting or disturbing to some viewers."

Officials add that the incident is still being investigated by the department's Detective Division, and that anybody with any information should contact Detective Matthew Seguin at 860-258-2047 or at [email protected].

While many people were disgusted at the video, one person commented: "Brave man and a good way to get killed. An automobile is not worth it. He certainly has insurance and he should have just let it go. He should count his blessings that he's alive right now."

A second added: "That’s one [tough] man. Pretty amazing getting hit like that and he still was battling. Hoping he’s ok."

Despite this man's actions successfully fending off the thieves, remember that it is best not to place yourself in danger and just call the police.

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You know what they say: desperate times call for desperate measures.

Last week, a 14-year-old girl found herself in need of a ride to her boyfriend's house, and decided she was just about desperate enough to commit grand theft auto in order to get there.

Josie Bigelow, a Florida resident, hatched a cunning plan when she was unable to find any other mode of transport to get to her boyfriend. She ordered a pizza from Papa Johns, waited for the driver - 49-year-old Christopher Cook - to arrive at a house, then leapt out of the bushes nearby in order to jump into the unlocked vehicle.

Astoundingly, the teenager managed to evade a pursuing sheriff's deputy twice and ditch the car on a stranger's driveway about six miles away from her house. Her getaway was not as swift as she had hoped, however, and she was collared before she could get to her boyfriend's place.

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According to the police report, Cook had been outsmarted by the teenager as he prepared to deliver a pizza to a randomly chosen address.

"[Cook] parked in the street and walked to the front door with the ordered food. As Christopher approached the residence, he observed a figure come from the wood line and enter his gold Ford 2006 Taurus, rev the engine and drive through the front yard of the house along the canal bank."

The pizza delivery man, now left stranded, decided to call his employer for help. They, in turn, urged him to phone the police, who responded by chasing the stolen car.

The vehicle was actually located within a couple of minutes, but Bigelow managed to evade the pursuing officer, Deputy Peterson, two times. This urged the deputy to switch to a different tactic: he followed her incognito, and alerted an aviation unit to monitor it from the air.

Bigelow was finally arrested at 3.15am, three hours after Cook reported his car stolen.

[[imagecaption|| Credit: Pixabay/Riedelmeier]]

In an interview with a local TV station, the girl's father, Joseph Bigelow, said that she "needs an ass whipping...That and jail." He also told law enforcement that his daughter "has fallen in with a bad crowd" and complained about "how bad her behaviour had been recently."

Joseph Bigelow also claimed he had seen text messages on the 14-year-old's phone in which she discussed robbing people with her boyfriend.

The teen was booked on charges of grand theft auto and transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center without further incident. She has since been released.

Cook's car was returned to him without any damage. By way of thanks for their assistance, the delivery driver gave the pizza that Bigelow ordered to the arresting officers.

A pizza delivery driver from south Philadelphia has been praised by police and his local community for tripping a suspect who was fleeing police.

As reported by NBC, local police in Brookhaven - a neighborhood just under 30 minutes away from Philadelphia - were involved in a car chase after a suspect stole a vehicle on Sunday afternoon (April 16). However, the chase ended up coming to an abrupt halt after the car the suspect was driving hit a pole outside a home where a pizza delivery driver named Tyler was dropping off an order.

The outlet obtained a home video of the incident, where a voice can be heard saying: "That's a high-speed chase." After the vehicle crashed into the pole, the suspect - only identified as a 17-year-old male - was headed past Tyler, whose only option was to stick out his foot and trip the young suspect, allowing police officers to catch up to him.

In the clip, the officers can be heard ordering the suspect to "get on the ground"

Cocco's Pizza - the store where Tyler works - posted the video of the incident to their Facebook account, where they wrote: "Sorry for the inappropriate language, but we thought it was warranted. Special shoutout to our delivery driver Tyler, who assisted the Brookhaven police today, and STILL delivered the food unharmed!!"

Taking to the comments section, many netizens praised the delivery guy, with one person writing: "Tyler well done man.... Pizza and perp delivered in 30 minutes or its on us... What a great video..... What a great job.... Delco pride on this one. Give that guy a raise and put him in for an award."

Credit: Instagram.com

Another comment read: "That was great! Way to go pizza man! He deserves a medal for that!"

Credit: Instagram.com

Brookhaven Police also posted the clip to their account, even going as far as offering Tyler a job if he ever felt like joining the force: "Thank you sir for the assist!!! If you're interested in a job we are always looking for good people. Coccos Pizza Aston. -You have great employees!"

Naturally, more netizens praised Tyler's quick-thinking skills. "TYLERRRRRRRR!!!!! Awesome police and awesome dude!!!! I have also watched this hundreds of times already and prob gonna watch hundreds more and it's just as good every time.

NICE job DELCO [...]," one wrote.

Credit: Instagram.com

"Thanks for taking yet another criminal off the streets. Great work by the police and the pizza guy. Brookhaven police always keeping us safe," someone else added.

Credit: Instagram.com

After all of this, perhaps Tyler is in the wrong business after all!

Featured image credit: Doug Miles / Alamy