Five juveniles who were already on probation were taken into custody on Thursday morning after leading authorities on a long pursuit.
A 13-year-old boy driving a stolen car led deputies and CHP officers on the chase that ended overnight in Industry, where a squad car nudged the targeted vehicle into a fence. The five children inside were taken into custody, highway patrol officers said.
The pursuit lasted roughly an hour, and began in Norwalk just before midnight when deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's Norwalk Station tried to pull over a red Chevy Corsica reported stolen, said CHP officer Joe Zizi.
LA County Sheriff's Deputy Israel Renteria first spotted the car, ""I located the vehicle on Firestone and San Antonio, immediately recognized it as the stolen vehicle."
The driver refused to comply and drove off with his four teenaged passengers, 2 females and 2 more males, triggering the chase, Zizi said. Deputies followed the driver over surface streets and onto freeways,where California Highway Patrol officers took over the pursuit, he said.
The chase continued on the northbound San Gabriel River (605) Freeway until the boy took the Valley Boulevard exit in Industry, Zizi said, "They were blowing red lights, going through stop signs, speeding at times."
A short time later, officers performed the PIT maneuver on the Chevy, causing the car to strike a fence near Arenth and Ajax avenues, he added.
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"In all cases of pursuits," Zizi said, "we don't know if it's a stolen vehicle, if they're armed, there are all kinds of factors that go through our minds; that's why we chase, that's why we arrest."
The five juveniles in the Corsica -- three males and two females ranging in age from 13 to 15 -- were taken into custody about 1 a.m., Zizi said. None of them was injured.
The chase with the teens comes one week to the day another teen, 15-years-old, drove 11 and 9-year-old passengers on a deadly pursuit in Fontana. The driver lost control of the Nissan Altima, ran it onto a curb and flipped it onto the roof of a house. All three passengers were killed.
"It's disappointing that juveniles would steal a car and lead police on a chase endangering hundreds of lives," Zizi said, but this is why we do our job, we'll enforce the law, arrest and seek prosecution."
The children's names were withheld because of their age. Sheriff’s officials say the suspects won’t be released anytime soon because of their probationary status at the time of this latest incident.
