Eleven-year-old steals car, drives recklessly at 70-80 miles per hour in Zora and Range line area

(From the Joplin Police Department)

Incident Spotlight

At 6:39 p.m yesterday evening we got a call about an SUV that hit a garage on Florida and was leaving the scene. 

At the same time, we got a call that an 11-year-old juvenile had stolen his parents vehicle from their house. It was quickly determined that the same vehicle was involved in both incidents. Another person was following the vehicle after the hit and run and called us.

Officers caught up to the stolen vehicle driven by the juvenile in the area of Zora and Range Line and tried to stop it. 

The juvenile ran red lights and passed traffic on the wrong side of the road, approaching speeds of 70-80MPH. Officers were put in a very difficult position of a reckless juvenile who had already caused one accident, endangering the public and not stopping, yet didn't want to cause the juvenile to hurt himself or others. 

Officers no longer pursued in hopes the juvenile would slow back down. Several callers continued to report wreckless driving from the vehicle. Shortly thereafter, another caller was following the vehicle running stop signs and driving carelessly around 12th and Wisconsin. 

Officers caught back up at 7th and Illinois and tried to stop the car. The juvenile continued to drive into on-coming traffic and run red lights. He wasn't pursued, despite residents pointing at the vehicle and yelling at officers to chase it. Officers got the vehicle boxed into a neighborhood and started putting down stop sticks to prevent escape. The juvenile returned to his house as officers closed in and went inside. Officers contacted the juvenile who was referred to juvenile authorities due to his age.