High speeds and under age
Speeding Bronco results in rollover, two damaged cop cruisers

Jeff Colbourne
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 24/98) - A high-speed chase through the city ended just before midnight Wednesday with the capture of a 15-year-old Yellowknifer.

The youth managed to avoid police for 10 minutes before rolling the truck he was driving. He survived unscathed but was captured soon after.

The incident began when a young offender hit another vehicle at Shaganappy Apartments in his stepfather's grey and blue 1984 Bronco and fled. Police were alerted and pursued the vehicle.

Upon spotting the driver on 52nd Avenue, officers turned on their emergency lights but the boy quickly sped away.

The chase turned into the downtown core, through heavy construction sites, four-way stops and traffic lights onto Franklin Avenue and to Old Airport Road, where speeds reached upwards of 80 km/h.

While cruising down Old Airport Road the driver attempted to side-swipe police cruisers until finally one of the police cars got ahead to slow the Bronco down.

The driver then began to rear-end the cruiser until pulling right and braking hard, which caused the Bronco's rear end to lift and flip over. The truck landed upside down on the street near Reddi Mart.

A second police cruiser rammed the Bronco head on to end the chase.

The driver crawled out of the overturned car and tried to run away but officers grabbed him.

The boy appeared before a justice of the peace Thursday, facing Motor Vehicles Act charges of dangerous driving and taking a vehicle without consent and Criminal Code charges of failing to stop to escape prosecution, which is the most serious of the three.

Police said they decided not to lay a charge of driving without a licence. "We will go with the more serious charges," said Sgt. Dean Taylor, with the RCMP detachment.

Alcohol was not involved in the incident.

The chase put two RCMP cruisers out of commission. One will likely be written off and the other requires substantial front and rear body work.

Taylor said this car chase could have been more serious.

"That's why the guys took the first opportunity they could to safely get the vehicle stopped. It would up to be some expense involved, but that's what you've got to do."