14-year-old rams Kennewick police car trying to escape in a stolen car from Clover Island
A 14-year-old driver suspected of holding a woman against her will rammed a police car and then led officers on a chase in a stolen SUV with flat tires this weekend.
The 24-year-old woman had messaged someone that she needed help because the teen wasn’t letting her out of the Range Rover. And Kennewick officers were then alerted just before 9:15 p.m., said Sgt. Chris Littrell.
As police were investigating, officers received a tip that the woman was on Clover Island in downtown Kennewick. Since Clover Island Drive is the only road leading onto the man-made island, officers placed spike strips used to flatten tires across the roadway, said a police news release.
An officer searched the island and spotted the Range Rover with a 14-year-old behind the wheel and the woman in the passenger’s seat near the Clover Island Inn.
The Range Rover had been stolen in Kennewick two days earlier and when police had tried to stop it earlier in the week, the driver had fled.
This time when the officer turned on his emergency lights, the teen immediately turned on his headlights and tried to drive away, police said.
The officer followed him for a short distance, before the SUV suddenly stopped and shifted into reverse and rammed front of the patrol car.
The officer suffered some minor injuries in the crash and was checked at a local hospital.
The teen then sped away but the SUV hit the spike strips, puncturing the two front tires as it fled south onto Washington Street.
But the teen kept driving on the flattened tires, reaching speeds up to 60 mph. Officers continued to chase him because he was suspected of violent crimes.
The Range Rover finally stopped on the 1700 block of South Gum Street and the driver was arrested.
Littrell said Monday that while it was initially reported that the woman was being held against her will, she denied that when she talked with police.
The teen was booked into the Benton County Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of second-degree assault, possession of a stolen vehicle, attempting to elude police and driving without a valid license.