A high-speed Christmas Day joyride that covered more than 100 miles ended abruptly when the 16-year-old juvenile offender who allegedly stole his mother’s car while on furlough from jail crashed into a tree.
The teen wasn’t hurt and was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon by a Wheatland Police Department officer, but not before attempts to elude multiple law enforcement agencies from Cheyenne to Wheatland, the Platte County Sheriff’s Office reports.
The teen boy was out on furlough from the Laramie County Juvenile Detention Center on Christmas morning when he allegedly stole his mother’s vehicle in Cheyenne, the agency reports.
The Platte County Sheriff’s Office report gives details about how the teen led multiple agencies on a circuitous chase on Interstate 25 and rural county roads.
Sheriff David Russell told Cowboy State Daily that in addition to the Wyoming Highway Patrol, three county deputies and two WPD officers were involved in the pursuit.
The WHP pursuit was actually called off at some point when the car started onto county roads, said Trooper Jason Simmer. That's when the local agencies picked it up and eventually arrested the driver.
Started In Cheyenne
The pursuit began when a vehicle reported stolen was spotted in Cheyenne. The teen driving the vehicle then fled north on I-25 until milepost 93, when he reversed course and drove south on the interstate, getting off onto U.S. Highway 26, the Platte County Sheriff’s Office reports.
He then got onto Highway 320 and “continued to evade officers” and multiple spike strips placed in his path by the WHP. He tried to lose his pursuers on county roads while driving toward Wheatland.
It was at this point that the WPD “was instrumental in helping deputies attempt to keep the vehicle out of city limits,” the Platte County Sheriff’s Office reports.
“A WPD officer successfully blocked the intersection at Oak Street and Front Road, and that part of the intersection was left open,” the report says. “The juvenile was unable to navigate the turn and crashed into a tree in a nearby front yard.”
That’s where the teen was arrested by the WPD officer, the reports says, adding that “there was minimal property damage and no one was injured.”
Russell said the tree wasn't very large and the teen pretty much ran it over, adding that the whole goal "was to just contain it and keep it out of the city limits."
What the teen was in the juvenile detention center for wasn’t available, nor are the charges he faces in relation to the alleged stolen car and pursuit.
The Platte County Sheriff’s Office praises the efforts of the officers chasing the teen driver and the WPD for keeping the speeding vehicle out of Wheatland and away from potential contact with other people.
The goal was “to keep the juvenile out of Wheatland and on rural roads,” the report says.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol is in charge of the investigation.
Contact Greg Johnson at greg@cowboystatedaily.com
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
