Los Angeles

Missing 13-Year-Old With Autism Leads Police on Pursuit, Causes Multiple Crashes in SF Valley

"We just apologize to everyone that's affected, everyone that’s involved."

A missing 13-year-old boy led police on a pursuit that featured multiple hit-and-run crashes in the San Fernando Valley Saturday, and the boy's parents say the teenager has autism and is deaf.

The driver was wanted for a felony hit-and-run near the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Coldwater Canyon Avenue, Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said while the pursuit was ongoing.

Newschopper4 Bravo arrived over the scene where the pursuit ended around 3:30 p.m. and observed multiple damaged vehicles, including a truck that had crashed into an apartment building in the 7200 block of Troost Avenue in North Hollywood.

Lopez confirmed that the person in the pursuit was a missing 13-year-old boy, and police later said that the truck had been reported stolen.

The boy's family told NBCLA that he has autism and said it is unclear how he ended up in the truck.

"I just hope they know he's a good boy," Monica Marshall, the boy's mother, said. "He's very sweet. He's not malicious."

Marshall said the boy is also deaf and wears a cochlear implant in one ear. The teenager's parents reported the boy missing from South Los Angeles Saturday morning, and it is not clear how he ended up taking police on a pursuit through the San Fernando Valley, eventually crashing in North Hollywood.

"He does not mean any harm," Trevaithen Watts, the boy's father, said. "We know the seriousness of it. I just really want people to know that."

Watts added, "We just apologize to everyone that's affected, everyone that’s involved."

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It was not immediately clear what charges, if any, the 13-year-old faces. He was released from the hospital without any serious injuries, and it appears that no one else sufferred any serious injuries during the pursuit that featured at least three different areas where the teenager crashed the truck into other vehicles.

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