Car with teens fleeing police crashes

Dan Kulin

Friday, Nov. 12, 2004 | 9:10 a.m.

A stolen car with three teenage girls fleeing from police ran into a minivan on Charleston Boulevard at the end of an Interstate 15 off-ramp Thursday night, Metro Police said.

The three girls and driver of the minivan, who was alone in that vehicle, were taken to University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, Sgt. Chris Jones said.

A police officer, whose name was not released, spotted the Saturn station wagon the girls were in near Palace Station driving recklessly and tried to pull the car over. But the car went onto the I-15 on-ramp at Sahara Avenue, fleeing the officer at speeds reaching 60 to 80 mph, Jones said.

The officer stopped chasing the car once on the highway, he said.

The car then got off the highway at Charleston, an exit about a mile north of Sahara.

At the bottom of the off-ramp, which directs traffic onto East Charleston, the car struck the side of the minivan, causing it to roll onto its roof.

The names of the girls and the woman were not released by police.

Jones said the driver of the Saturn will probably be charged with felony evading police, felony reckless driving and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Police did not realize the car was stolen until after the crash because the car had not been reported stolen, he said.

The collision prompted the police to close off Charleston between Martin Luther King Boulevard and Grand Central Parkway.

Jones said the pursuit will be reviewed, as they all are.

This is at least the second incident that started with a police chase to end in an accident so far this month.

On Nov. 2 a mother and daughter died when a suspect fleeing police ran a red light at Valley View Boulevard and Bonanza Road, hitting the car the two were in.