4 teens arrested after 80-mph cable bridge chase and crash after Kennewick carjacking
A 26-year-old Grandview man was lured to Kennewick by a teen girl before being pistol-whipped and carjacked, say police.
Two 16-year-old boys and 15- and 14-year-old girls are accused in the plot that ended with an 80-mph chase across the cable bridge into Pasco and then a car crash, Kennewick Commander Isaac Merkl told the Tri-City Herald.
The Grandview man had been talking to one of the teen girls on social media and agreed to drive to the Tri-Cities to meet her, Merkl said.
After arriving in the Tri-Cities on Friday, he picked up the second girl and then went to Pasco to pick up the two teen boys.
The group eventually ended up at a home under construction near the intersection of Sherman Street and Hildebrand Boulevard, where the boys allegedly pulled out guns and robbed the man.
Merkl said they pistol-whipped him and one of them pointed a gun at his head when he tried to stop them from taking his 2010 Dodge Journey.
After they left, the man knocked on doors in the neighborhood asking for help and police were called about 11:45 p.m.
A Kennewick officer spotted the stolen car near Fruitland Street and Canal Drive and tried to stop it. The driver took off and sped east through downtown Kennewick until he reached Highway 397.
The reached 80 mph crossing the cable bridge into Pasco, said Merkl.
The officer continued to chase the teens because their speed was posing a serious danger and because traffic was almost nonexistent at that time of night, he said.
They ran red lights until they hit another car at 10th Avenue and Lewis Street. The teens ran but three were found by police that night and a fourth one was arrested later at home.
The names of the teens have not been released.
All four were booked into the Benton Franklin Juvenile Detention Center on suspicion of first-degree robbery, first-degree assault, resisting arrest and attempting to elude police, Merkl said.
The boys have been linked to other recent robberies, Merkl said.
“We would encourage anyone to never meet up with someone they don’t know,” he said. “Safety-wise it doesn’t make any sense.”