Car-chase drama - Cops yet to identify15-y-o caught with stolen vehicle

Up to late yesterday afternoon police were still trying to ascertain the identity of a 15-year-old boy who led them on an early morning car chase following a motor vehicle theft in Kingston earlier in the day.

At the same time, at least one police commander is praising the alertness of cops who detected and recovered the stolen vehicle minutes after the boy allegedly made off with it when it was left unattended with its engine running at a service station in Cross Roads, around 10 a.m.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Maldria Williams, of the Kingston Central Police Station, said that she and three other police officers were approaching the intersection of North and King Streets when they observed a grey Toyota Probox motorcar being driven erratically.

The officers started following the vehicle which started going faster, barely avoiding collisions with other motorcars along the way.

"Based on how he was driving and the speed, I was thinking that another police unit was chasing him. But when he got to the other stop light it was red and he broke it. That was when we actually said 'no, something is wrong' and gave chase," said the senior cop.

Williams said that during the chase a transmission was sent from police control stating that the vehicle they were pursuing had just been stolen from a female taxi operator in the Cross Roads area. The taxi driver reportedly left the vehicle running as she rushed into the service station to purchase something. When she returned she saw her vehicle careening down the road.

Williams said that it was when her team heard the transmission that the chase really got serious.

"He took us all the way to South Camp Road, Up South Camp Road, past Harman Barracks, onto Marescaux Road, in Cross Roads, then down to Heroes Circle," she said, noting that upon reaching the Wolmer's High School for Boys, the Probox collided with another vehicle but did not stop.

"He (the driver) went down to the Ministry of Finance and turned into Heroes Park. At the time we never realised that his tyre was blown out from the accident before. He couldn't go any further. It appeared that he wanted to park the vehicle and run through the gate into Torrington Park," she said.

Williams said the police accosted the youngster without much force, and that he told them his age and that he was from the Torrington Park community. But Torrington Park residents who converged in Heroes Circle after hearing of the commotion said they had never seen him before. She said the youngster told the cops, however, that his mother is dead and that he does not know where to locate his father on the island. He told the cops that the Probox belonged to his grandfather.

It was not clear whether the occupants of the vehicle with which the Probox collided were injured.