Law enforcement agents faced a series of dangerous events Sunday as two minors led Starkville police officers and Oktibbeha County deputies in a car chase and subsequent manhunt.
The two boys — a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old — were charged with multiple counts of grand larceny before they were released to their parents. Other charges are pending.
Starkville Police Department first responded to a suspicious vehicle call on Cruise Street in regard to a car that was abandoned. Two males, an SPD release says, were observed running from the black Audi A6. Officers identified the car as one stolen from the North Montgomery Street area.
Five hours later, a 2014 black Ford F-250 was reported stolen from Seville Place. A Starkville narcotics officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop with the vehicle, allegedly driven by the two juveniles, on Lynn Lane, but the driver refused to leave the road.
SPD and Oktibbeha County deputies pursued the truck from Lynn Lane, down Industrial Park Street to Highway 12, where it wrecked in the parking lot of the Army-Navy store.
Officers immediately apprehended the 10-year-old driver, the release states, but the 14-year-old passenger fled the scene armed with a handgun belonging to the owner of the stolen truck.
SPD sealed off a perimeter around the area and later arrested the juvenile on Whitfield Street without any injuries.
Officials commended the officers’ for demonstrating “significant discipline and professionalism that prevented this…event from becoming a national tragedy.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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