Two-county chase leads to arrests of four teenagers
Friday, February 11, 2011 - 7:21pm
All four were from Homosassa, including the 14-year old driver of a stolen green 1995 Ford Thunderbird they were all riding in. Arrested were three boys, ages 13, 14 and 15 and a girl, age 14.
Marion County deputies saw the Thunderbird in the parking lot of the Chevron at Marion County Road 484 and State Road 200 at about 5 a.m. on Thursday. The store was closed, and the car was parked on the north side of the building. A deputy pulled up to the car after he saw one of the car's occupants poke his head up as if he were hiding from deputies.
The car began backing up, and a deputy turned on his overhead lights in an attempt to stop the car. But the car continued backing up, and was able to drive 25 yards in the eastbound lanes and then turned southbound onto State Road 200.
Pursing deputies noted the car kept speeds up to 50 miles per hour, and noticed there were four people in the car. Dispatchers notified deputies the car had been seen a few minutes earlier in the Wal-Mart parking lot in the 9500 block of State Road 200, and that the occupants were seen going into vehicles in the parking lot.
An attempt to stop the car failed when the car managed to avoid stop sticks. The pursuit continued southbound on State Road 200 and into Citrus County, where the car turned south on County Road 491. Citrus County deputies then joined the chase as the car began reaching speeds of about 70 miles per hour.
Several times, the arrest report says, the passenger-side tires of the car left the roadway onto the shoulder of the road.
A Citrus County deputy then thew out stop sticks, and the car's driver-side tires were punctured. The car continued southbound to S.R. 492, crossing the roadway at the intersection and crossing through a parking lot.
The car did two doughnuts in the middle of C.R. 491 before turning north on State Road 41. Both Citrus and Marion county deputies continued the pursuit, and the car left the roadway on the right side several times, and also swerved into the opposing traffic lanes numerous times.
Deputies attempted a rolling roadblock, but that failed. But a pit maneuver didn't fail, and the car spun out about six-tenths of a mile south of North Citrus Spring Boulevard and came to a stop.
The driver attempted to continue, but both front and rear tires on the driver's side were disintegrated from the stop sticks, and were left on rims. A deputy told the driver to stop, but the driver refused, and the deputy busted the driver's side window with a flashlight, and the driver surrendered.
The driver was placed in a patrol vehicle and was read his rights. He told deputies the group had committed vehicle burglaries at the Ocala Wal-Mart.
The other two juveniles, Zachary Lamb and Levi Naylor, stayed in the car during the burglaries, the arrest report said. It was determined that all four juveniles had stolen the car together, and had driven to the store with the intent to commit burglaries.
All four were also charged by the Marion County Sheriff's Office with burglary. The driver was also charged with fleeing and eluding, reckless driving and not having a valid driver's license. All were sent to the Citrus County Juvenile Detention Center.
Citrus Daily has also learned the juveniles are also accused of the earlier theft of a second vehicle, a Dodge minivan and are thought to be the culprits behind a string of burglaries at numerous motels in Ocala.
