It's a rude awakening for pair of 13-year-old girls — runaways from Texas — after crashing car into tree in Louisiana

A pair of 13-year-old girls — runaways from Texas — crashed their car into a tree in Louisiana before dawn Tuesday, the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's Office said.

Authorities said the sheriff's office, Louisiana State Police, and emergency medical services jumped into action around 5 a.m. after a report of a single-vehicle crash on US-71 near the Natchitoches-Winn Parish line.

'They should definitely be grounded,' one commenter deadpanned.

Deputies arrived on scene and found the two girls; one of them suffered minor non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

Deputies said the 13-year-old driver — hailing from the city of Atlanta, which is in the northeastern part of Texas, just a few miles from the Arkansas border — was operating a Chevrolet passenger car traveling southbound on US-71 when she apparently fell asleep.

The vehicle traveled across the center line, exited the road on the left side, went through a ditch, and then struck a tree before coming to a stop, authorities said.

EMS personnel examined the injured girl at the scene and released her — but deputies and state police continued to investigate why two 13-year-old girls from Texas would be traveling in a vehicle at 5 a.m. They soon learned the girls were runaways. The Independent said they were about 145 miles from home.

Deputies said the pair stated they were traveling with no specific destination.

The driver was cited for careless operation of a vehicle and no driver's license, authorities said.

Both girls were taken from the scene to the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office and later released into the care and custody of relatives, authorities said.

The car they took belonged to a relative who didn't want to pursue criminal charges, the sheriff’s office told the Independent.

The sheriff's office said no further information will be released since the incident is a juvenile matter.

How are people reacting?

Commenters reacting to the Independent story published by Yahoo News were all over the map in regard to the girls' actions:

• "They should definitely be grounded," one commenter deadpanned.
• "I hope the tree is OK," another user said sarcastically.
• "Could have easily had a head-on crash and killed others and themselves," another commenter said.
• "Don't let them go back to the parents," another commenter declared. "The parents are at FAULT for this. These kids were clearly on a joy ride and didn't care about the consequences. They really believed they could just do what they wanted, and if their parents had been parents, this would not have happened. How much you want to bet one of them has an adult 'bf' that has been grooming them, and they wanted to go live with him."
• "When I ran away I only made it to the end of the driveway," another user quipped.
• "Cited for no license and no brain cells?" another commenter inquired.

Blaze News on Wednesday reported about another pair of 13-year-olds — this time in Wisconsin — who stole a DoorDash driver's car left running and unattended before leading cops on a high-speed chase and winding up arrested.

This story has been updated.

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