(Adrian Zamarippa posing by the Lamborghini he got to ride in. Credit: Mike Anderson, KSL TV)
OGDEN – The five-year-old Utah boy who was stopped on I-15 as he tried to drive a Lamborghini gets his wish. Family members say Lamborghini owners have been offering him rides after hearing that he took his family’s vehicle and tried to drive himself to California.
Meanwhile, the dash-cam of the traffic stop has been posted on YouTube.
Trooper Rick Morgan pulled over the SUV on I-15 in Ogden initially after he clocked it going 88 miles an hour. Upon pulling the driver over Morgan noticed the driver having trouble staying in one lane.
Morgan thought he was stopping an impaired driver, so, when he noticed a small child behind the wheel, you can hear the surprise in his voice.
“How old are you?” Morgan asks. “You’re five years old? Wow! Where did you learn to drive a car?”
Morgan tried to ease the kid’s fears and find out his information.
After the incident, the family got calls from Lamborghini owners, offering to give little Adrian Zamarippa a ride. One of those offers came from Jeremy Neves. He says what Adrian did was extremely dangerous, and he doesn’t encourage any child to do it, ever.
However, he couldn’t help but be a little impressed Adrian would be confident enough to drive himself to buy a car two states away with only three dollars in his pocket.
Neves says, “I was really encouraged, really inspired by the kid. I wanted to come up and I wanted to give him a ride in the Lamborghini. I knew it was something that would make my day if I was his age.”
Neves met Adrian and his family in an Ogden neighborhood to give the boy a ride in his dream car. He says Adrian’s mind was blown when he saw the car up close.
“He was just enamored by it. He was just, ‘Wow!’ super excited,” Neves says.
Adrian’s family fought back tears as they watched him climb into the car. His mother, Beatriz Flores spoke through an interpreter, saying she didn’t know how to express how happy she was.
“She doesn’t have an explanation. She’s at a loss for words,” the interpreter says. “It’s very incredible. I’m happy that he got to experience this. Despite everything that’s happening, he got it.”
Adrian reportedly took the keys to the SUV after his older brother fell asleep while watching him. Troopers believe drove around two to three miles before being pulled over, and they say it’s very fortunate no one was hurt and no property was damaged. The incident has been handed over to the Weber County Attorney’s Office for screening, but the UHP has no plans to cite the boy or recommend charges against his family.
(On a personal note, my parents would have grounded me for life.)
Contributing: Mike Anderson, KSL TV
