Ark Valley News - Fleeing teenager terrorizes Valley Center neighborhood

Fleeing teenager terrorizes Valley Center neighborhood
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: September 07, 2017

A boy who told authorities he was 15 years old was taken into custody after leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase through two counties, including a series of close calls in a Valley Center neighborhood Sept. 2.

The boy, whose name was not released, was arrested after officers spotted him in the back seat of a vehicle he hired through Uber to take him out of Valley Center.

Valley Center police Sgt. Lloyd Newman said the department assisted the Kansas Highway Patrol on the chase, which started in Harvey County.

Highway Patrol spokesman Chad Crittenden said a trooper attempted to stop the Dodge Challenger about 10:30 a.m. at Southwest 36th and Seneca in Harvey County for speeding and registration violation, but the vehicle didn't stop.

The vehicle traveled south on Broadway into Sedgwick County.

Crittenden said stop sticks were deployed on Broadway between 77th and 85th.

Crittenden said troopers lost sight of the vehicle as it go closer to Valley Center.

The vehicle came into Valley Center on 77th and drove into the Prairie Lakes neighborhood, went through at least three yards, grazed a young girl's arm and struck a mailbox.

The suspect bailed out of the vehicle and left it running. Without a driver, the vehicle struck a telephone pole and stopped.

Newman said the suspect ran across the Little Ditch and into neighborhoods northwest of Prairie Lakes.

Dozens of officers from agencies across the area formed a large perimeter to catch the suspect.

Alert residents, who were walking in the area and learned of the search, spotted Newman at Dexter and Allen and said they saw a suspicious person talking on a phone near a house in the 100 block of North Emporia.

When officers got there, he was gone.

While Sgt. Matt Vogt was talking to the residents, a car drove by with the suspect in the back seat. Vogt alerted other officers.

About noon, officers pulled the vehicle over at 77th and Seneca, not far from the Prairie Lakes neighborhood, and arrested the suspect.

He was taken to Harvey County on charges of felony fleeing and attempting to elude officers, possession of stolen property, leaving the scene of a vehicle crash, no license, improper display of a tag and aggravated battery.

The vehicle the suspect abandoned in the Prairie Lakes neighborhood was allegedly stolen.

Police said they were thankful that the situation was resolved without serious injuries.

“We were very fortunate the little girl wasn't seriously hurt," Newman said.