A joyriding 13-year-old Texas boy was left with a bruised ego after his mother chased him down and spanked him with a belt on the side of a road after the kid stole his mom’s brand new BMW.
Aaron Martinez pulled off the stunt on Friday after he disconnected the WiFi in his home to kill the security cameras on his parents’ property, preventing his mother from seeing him take off with her car.
The teen’s sister, Liza Campero, who documented her brother’s antics on social media, explained to ABC13 News that Martinez waited until his mom was away before snaking her keys and taking off with the vehicle to grab his best friend.
The friend’s mother tipped off Martinez’s family about the heist, prompting the mom and sister to set out and search for the BMW.
“She told me she was on her way home and to grab her belt,” Campero told the news station.
Campero was recording video while the pair drove around looking for Martinez. The pair stopped by the kid’s girlfriend’s house to enquire about his whereabouts.
“The girlfriend called his best friend and there was another girl with them. The girl that was with them said that mom was looking for them,” Campero explained.
As they were driving towards Martinez’s friend’s house, the pair spotted the missing BMW at an intersection, and began to pursue.
Video shows the mother driving up beside her son, rolling down the driver’s side window and yelling for him to pull over.
“Pull over now!” she yells while honking the horn.
“Give me the belt,” she said.
The mom approaches the car, swings open the driver’s side door and begins to spank the teen with the belt; the daughter is heard laughing while she records the punishment.
“She said when she opened the door, he was smirking, and as soon as he saw the belt, he wiped the smile off his face,” Campero told ABC13.
This sister’s tweets about the whole ordeal went viral, with over 144,000 likes on Twitter.
Some on social media have questioned the mother’s actions, saying it borders on abuse.
“Don’t agree with this at all. She should have called the cops and let him get arrested for theft and joyriding,” Jacqueline Hillier commented. “Hitting him with a belt only taught him to use violence when angry.”
“If this was a daughter that took her father’s car and the dad ‘spanked’ her with a belt the reaction from the public would have been very different,” Irene Tavares commented. “Despite the wrong the kid did it could have been handled better. And more importantly not be shamed publicly!!!! Two wrongs don’t make a right!”
Others disagreed and said it “was proper parenting.”
“Good for her. We need more moms like that,” reads a comment.
“I love this woman! Good on ya, if more parents went to this extent to shut down bad behavior our world would be a better place,” reads another.
Martinez was also grounded until “at least 2019.”
h/t GlobalNews