FLEET FEET, HOT WHEELS LAND YOUTH IN JAIL AGAIN

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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992                   TAG: 9202060214
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
FLEET FEET, HOT WHEELS LAND YOUTH IN JAIL AGAIN
A 16-year-old prisoner escaped from the Montgomery County Courthouse on Wednesday, stole a car and eluded police for two hours.
He was recaptured after police chased him into the Walton area of Montgomery County and back to Christiansburg.
The same juvenile was charged last week with stealing a van in Giles County and had been pursued by police in Radford, Montgomery and Pulaski counties that time before being captured in Giles.
Lt. Dan Haga of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said the youth had been brought from jail to the fourth floor of the courthouse Wednesday to appear as a witness in another case in Circuit Court.
Robbie Jenkins, attorney for a woman charged with grand larceny, said he had conferred with the youth and turned him back over to deputies. Later, when the case was being heard and Jenkins called the youth as his first witness, Jenkins said it was discovered he was missing.
Haga said the juvenile had escaped from a holding cell. Leg irons, used to secure prisoners, were found in the cell.
About the same time, Christiansburg police were searching for a car stolen after its driver left the keys in it near Scottie's Pharmacy on Main Street, a block from the courthouse.
Haga said the car was abandoned later in the Walton community on property owned by Norfolk Southern Corp.
Deputy Billy Saunders said he was told the juvenile had left the area in a green car. Saunders then learned the juvenile could be found at a relative's apartment in Christiansburg.
Saunders went to the apartment, near Family Dollar Store on West Main Street. He said he heard a struggle upstairs - between the youth and Christiansburg police.
The 16-year-old was returned in handcuffs to the Montgomery County Jail shortly before 5 p.m., with three county deputies and two town police officers escorting him.
Haga said the youth was charged with escape.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB