'I did it to kill people' said 10-year-old girl who crashed truck into house

A 10-year-old girl who drove a pick-up truck and crashed it into a family home allegedly told police she did it because she "wanted to kill people".

Joshua Pate said a piece of furniture may have saved the lives of his five children who were sitting in the living room of his house which the truck crashed into after it rammed into a car and spun out of control.

"The loveseat slid around and made kind of like a barrier...The back of it is kind of high, and I think the kids just slid with the loveseat," Pate told WDRB.

Police in Louisiana said the young girl, who has not been named, was not injured in the crash. It is unclear how she got the keys to the vehicle.

Pate said he was shocked to hear what the girl said to the police while she was questioned. "[The officer] couldn't believe what she said. He was like, 'Excuse me?' and she said, 'I wanted to kill people,' and he said, 'I'm sorry, what did you say?' and she said, 'I wanted to kill people,'" Pate said.

Police said the girl's truck hit Kristina Bryan's car so hard it spun several times and left gashes in the pavement. Bryan suffered minor scrapes and bruises but her vehicle was totalled.

"When I heard it was a 10-year-old girl, my first reaction should have been, 'Is she OK?' but when I looked down, there she was, walking from the truck to get into the back of a cop car. I knew she was OK," Bryan said.

She added: "Where was the parents when this little girl even got into the car? How did this little girl even get access to the keys?"

Pate said he has forgiven the girl but is waiting for an apology from her family. "All we want is an apology from the family, pretty much," he said. "We haven't heard from them and haven't heard from anybody."

Both Pate and Bryan said they plan to launch legal action against the girl's parents over the incident that occurred in New Cut Road near West Indian Trail.