Lincoln Police say two juvenile girls were taken into custody after a Sunday night crash following a pursuit. LPD says it began when a vehicle was stolen from a gas station near 17th and Washington about 9:30 p.m.
The vehicle was then spotted by a State Trooper about 30 minutes later near 14th and Fletcher. NSP spokesman Cody Thomas says as the vehicle turned northbound onto 14th Street, the trooper tried to make a traffic stop. “The driver immediately accelerated and fled,” Thomas says. “The trooper initiated a pursuit. The vehicle turned into a residential area near 14th and Julesburg Drive and continued to flee. The vehicle drove through the residential neighborhood and eventually returned to 14th Street and began driving southbound in the northbound lanes.”
Thomas says the car then turned eastbound onto Fletcher and increased speed to over 70 miles per hour. “As the vehicle approached 27th Street at a high rate of speed, the trooper backed off. The trooper then observed the vehicle run a red light at 27th Street, lose control, and crash into a pole.”
He says the entire pursuit lasted approximately three minutes. Thomas says the driver was identified as a 13-year-old girl. She and her passenger, a 17-year-old female, were both transported to Bryan Medical Center West Campus with non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver was then booked into a youth detention facility for theft by unlawful taking, flight to avoid arrest and no operator’s license. Once released from the hospital, the passenger will be cited for aiding and abetting.