TEEN-AGER ARRESTED IN GILES AFTER CHASE IN STOLEN VAN

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992                   TAG: 9201300195
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-8   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: NEWPORT                                LENGTH: Short
TEEN-AGER ARRESTED IN GILES AFTER CHASE IN STOLEN VAN
A van thief failed to watch his gas gauge Wednesday while leading officers on a high-speed chase.
The driver, who picked up two passengers, was traveling in excess of 100 mph when he led officers from Pulaski County back into Giles County, said Sgt. A.D. Williams of the Giles Sheriff's Office.
The van, belonging to W.R. Cumbee of Pembroke, was stolen at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday from in front of the Super Val-U Grocery in Newport, Williams said. Cumbee had gone into the store for a cup of coffee.
The van was spotted in Pulaski County and Pulaski officers chased it along Dry Branch Road into Giles. Giles officers got behind the van on Virginia 730, but it had run out of gas and was coasting at 18 mph when they caught up with it near Virginia 100, Williams said.
The driver fled the vehicle and ran up an embankment, Williams said. A 16-year-old boy was captured 15 minutes later, around 3 p.m., hiding in a building up a hill from the road.
The teen-ager, who has a record of car theft, was charged with grand larceny, possession of alcohol and failure to stop for a police officer, Williams said. The two passengers - a girl, 17, and a boy, 15 - were not charged.
The arrested youth, whom Williams would not identify because of his age, was being held in a juvenile detention center in Christiansburg. He was to appear this morning before a juvenile court judge in Montgomery County.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB