A 17-year-old driver led police on a short but eventful chase at speeds that exceeded 100 mph before rolling a Ford Mustang and somehow walking away. Police found marijuana in the car and while both occupants of the vehicle managed to escape serious injury, the driver is now in jail over felony evading arrest.
The young driver in question was initially stopped by police sometime around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Police video shows that prior to the traffic stop, the young man was crossing the double-yellow line as he drove down the road. Once stopped, the officer walked up to the passenger side of the Mustang and tapped on the window. That’s the moment when he began to run.
Police say that he crossed into the oncoming lanes in the minutes that followed and accelerated beyond 100 mph before officers successfully deployed a spike strip and punctured all four tires. Despite the damage, the teen continued on speeding before finally losing control of the car and rolling it around 1:38 a.m.
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Both the driver and his passenger, a juvenile, weren’t wearing seatbelts and thus were ejected from the vehicle. Miraculously, both walked away from the incident. The juvenile was released to a parent and the driver was taken to jail for felony evading arrest and a Class B misdemeanor possession of fewer than two ounces of marijuana.
Jessica Pebsworth, communications director for the city of Lufkin, says that the apprehension was a team effort. She told the Lufkin Daily News “We would like to say thanks to all the agencies who assisted us this morning, including Angelina County Sheriff’s Office, Diboll police and fire departments, Allegiance Ambulance Service and the Texas Department of Public Safety… We’re also very thankful that no one was seriously injured in this incident.”
The arresting officer drops the hammer on the teen pretty hard near the end of the video. First, he confirms that the passenger is OK but then says that the marijuana charge would’ve likely just been a ticket. What a way to potentially ruin your own life over the span of about 10 minutes in total. We’re glad everybody made it out of this physically unharmed.
