GPD: Boys, 16 and 14, may be behind other recent incidents near East Lake Drive
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Some Gladewater homeowners got an early morning wake-up call Thursday as a multiagency police pursuit raced down residential roadways, ultimately ending with two local teenagers in custody and facing felony charges.
“He was making laps, going up and down one street to another,” Gladewater Police Chief Kyle Ready reported May 30. “Woke the whole neighborhood up over there” as law enforcement from GPD, Gregg County, Upshur and DPS chased a stolen Kia Soul on Hwy. 80, U.S. 271, Gay Avenue, East Lake Drive and other routes shortly after 5 a.m.
“It looked like a parade going down the road.”
The investigation’s ongoing – allegedly, two white male juveniles, 16 and 14 years-old, nicked the CUV from a home in the 600 block of East Lake Drive at some point during the night and eventually encountered a unit from Upshur County Sheriff’s Office after midnight.
The suspects (who won’t be named due to their ages) escaped that initial pursuit, Ready confirmed, but local law enforcement coordinated their efforts and were on the lookout, “See if we could catch them going back through town.”
From GPD’s preliminary report, a Gregg County deputy initiated the second pursuit at 5:09 a.m. in the 800 block of North Main Street.
“They pursued the vehicle for probably 10 to maybe 15 minutes,” Ready reported. The victim of the vehicle theft was one of many residents roused by the ruckus – he learned his car had been stolen when it raced past his house with multiple units hot on its tail.
“It was going through neighborhoods, went down highway 80, finally coming to rest over about the 2000 block of Gay Avenue,” Ready said. “That’s when the two occupants bailed out of the car and took off running.
“They were able to catch the driver of the vehicle pretty quickly. DPS actually launched their drone to see if we could flush out the other one,” but he was found moments later anyway, hiding in the woods nearby.
Officers ran the plate on the vehicle and soon found the 61-year-old owner, visibly distraught after watching the chase from his front porch. Due to the man’s labored breathing, GPD’s officers contacted dispatch to request EMS, and the man was transported to Longview for treatment.
The teenage suspects were booked into Gregg County’s Juvenile Detention Center and are facing initial charges of Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and Evading with a Motor Vehicle, both of which are felonies.
“We are looking at them for some involvement in some other crimes that have been committed here recently in that area of town,” Ready added. Video surveillance posted to a local Facebook page indicates a link: “They had their faces covered up, they were wearing hoodies, but I believe it’s going to be the same ones. It’s all in the same area where this car was stolen.”