Trying to outrun the police is never a great idea. A group of teenagers were caught after they tried to outdrive officers in a stolen car and crashed, landing in an embankment.
The Seattle Police Department responded to a 911 call by a man who was afraid his business would be targeted by three people wearing ski masks outside his store in the Roxhill neighborhood in West Seattle.
“While all of this is happening, I’m on the phone with 911 because, as I mentioned, it has happened one too many times. So I’m just extra cautious and I reported suspicious activity,” Rishab Narula, the gas station owner, said.
Officers got there at around 9 p.m. and spoke with the owner. He told officers that he locked the doors to his business and that a car with the masked people left, heading in the northbound direction on 35th Avenue Southwest.
They followed the teenagers until the car they were driving collided with a fence, causing the car to fall down an embankment and hit against the outside of an apartment building. Officers later discovered that the car had been stolen at gunpoint during a carjacking.
“I suddenly heard a succession of really loud, smashing, crunching sounds, which to me sounded like five car accidents one after the other — bam, bam, bam, bam,” Aimee Muul, who lives in the apartment complex, said. “I saw probably like 15 police officers just around this whole area, and they started yelling down into there, ‘Seattle police, get out of the vehicle.'”
Seattle Fire Department personnel provided medical care for non-life-threatening injuries caused by the crash. Police arrested a 15-year-old for possession of a stolen vehicle and eluding. He was later booked into the King County Youth Services Center after being medically cleared.
The other two suspects, a 13-year-old and a 14-year-old, were released from police custody to their legal guardians.