A 14-year-old El Paso boy became famous online after a video of his mom tracking him down with a belt in hand after he took her new BMW for a ride went viral.

The boy’s sister, Liza Campero, who tweeted video of the incident, said her brother, Aaron, took the car to pick up his best friend and then was going to go see his girlfriend.

“It started when my brother Aaron unplugged the Wi-Fi router, so my mom couldn’t see the cameras at our house,” Campero said. “He then took the car to go pick up his best friend, whose mom called my mom to tell her that my brother had picked up his best friend. My mom called and asked me to go see if the car was there. It obviously wasn’t there, so we then went to look for him.”

She added, “The first place we went to was his girlfriend’s house, but he wasn’t there. We stayed in the area because I told my mom this is where he is probably going to come to — and sure enough, that is where he spotted him.”

The joyride ended in a belting by the side of the road after the pair caught up with the wayward youth, as shown in the video that has been seen more than 755,000 times on Twitter.

The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Oct. 12. The mom and sister found the boy driving the vehicle near Saul Kleinfeld and Montwood drives in East El Paso, Campero said.

“She went up to car and used the belt she asked me to bring and began hitting him with it, but it wasn’t hard hits and she missed him a couple of times,” Campero said. “My mom then took him to her work, where he stayed the rest of the day.”

Campero said that Aaron had previously taken the vehicle without permission before but didn’t make it far. He was lectured by his mom that time and again after this incident.

Aaron is now grounded for the rest of the year.

“My mom, my dad and my grandfather all sat down and had a conversation with Aaron about what happened,” Campero said. “They took away his phone, his PlayStation, they took his door off the hinges and he is grounded for the rest of the year.”

The incident has had an impact on Aaron, who has apologized several times to his family for what he did, his sister said.

“He sat there with my mom and just kept telling her he was sorry and that he knew he was doing wrong, he messed up and was sorry for what he did.”

She continued: “My brother isn’t a bad kid. He just made a very bad mistake and he is sorry for it. He is a teenager and thought he had the right to do it, but now he definitely knows better. He now realizes how dangerous his actions could have been. Luckily, nothing seriously bad happened. He will learn from this.”

Mixed reaction to video
The reaction of the video has been mixed, with people praising the mom’s actions, but just as many, if not more, criticizing her for hitting her son with a belt.

“It upsets me that people are talking about my mom like that, but we are just trying to avoid all the negative comments from these keyboard warriors,” Campero said. “People have different ways of disciplining their kids. Some ways work with some kids and other ways for other kids.”

Campero added: “My mom did nothing wrong. Everyone has their own way of doing things. There is no right or wrong.”

El Pasoans have reacted differently than people from other places, Campero said.

“The comments from people in El Paso have been positive,” Campero said. “I think people here have all been disciplined with a belt, so it is normal here. I think everyone here has experienced it.

“Once the video went viral is when we started seeing negative comments. People from other places just don’t get it. We are just avoiding the negative comments. Again, my mom didn’t do anything wrong. She was just disciplining her child who did some wrong.”

The fame the family has gotten since the video went viral hasn’t really impacted them, Campero said.

“It has been overwhelming because we are getting calls from everyone and a lot of newspapers and TV stations want to talk us,” Campero said. “But it has not had a big impact. Aaron is back at school, I am getting ready for my finals and my mom is back at work. So, we are just continuing like normal.”
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