Yellowknife (Apr 29/05) - A high-speed chase through the streets of downtown Yellowknife ended early Sunday morning with a teenage girl in police custody facing a host of charges including impaired driving.

While police released few details about the pursuit, one witness said it likely ended when an RCMP Suburban clipped the black, four-door compact sedan as it raced down 45th Street at around 2:20 a.m.

The manoeuvre probably sent the speeding car into a spin, said resident John Gon, who emerged from his house to find the black sedan sitting by the side of the road.

"It looked like it made a U-turn," he said Monday afternoon.

The black sedan had extensive damage to the passenger side and the police cruiser lost its front wheel, which ended up several metres down the street, Gon said.

Gon was watching television at the time of the crash and said the noise prompted him to run outside with his camera.

"There was just a big cloud of dust," Gon said.

He saw a lone RCMP officer standing over a teenage girl with the two vehicles sitting in the road.

"She was yelling her head off," said Gon.

Shortly afterward five RCMP and Municipal Enforcement vehicles arrived on the scene, Gon said.

Police announced a teenage girl has been charged with impaired driving, theft over $5,000 and flight from police.