Juvenile Taken Into Custody After Police Chase In West Valley City

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – A 16-year-old is in custody after leading police on a chase, and officials said this particular juvenile is someone they’ve been looking for.

West Valley City PoliceLt. Bill Merritt said detectives made a traffic stop Tuesday night they believed may have been connected to a case they were working on. When the officer returned to the vehicle to run the driver’s information, the vehicle fled.

Authorities pursued the car through city streets and eventually spiked the vehicle’s tires. The car continued to drive, though, and officials lost sight of it. The abandoned car was located approximately 20 minutes later.

“Fortunately, we had a bunch of different agencies that came out and helped us,” Merritt said. “Our K9s started to scour the area.”

Police located the suspect inside an abandoned home, and the teen was taken into custody without further incident.

“Unfortunately, he’s got a little bit of a record already,” Merritt said. “He’s going to be facing charges of fleeing, obviously, which is a felony.”

“It’s a serious thing,” he added. “It’s something we don’t take lightly. It’s very dangerous not only for the suspect himself, but for our officers, of course, and any bystanders who might be in the area.”

The vehicle the teen was driving belonged to his mother. The suspect will be booked into a juvenile detention center.