RUNAWAY GIRL, 12, LEADS POLICE ON WILD CAR CHASE

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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 9, 1993                   TAG: 9304090346
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
RUNAWAY GIRL, 12, LEADS POLICE ON WILD CAR CHASE
Lots of kids threaten to run away from home, but this 12-year-old girl was serious.
Thursday morning, she jumped behind the wheel of her parents' yellow Thunderbird and led police on a two-mile chase that ended with a bang - right into an animal control pickup truck - in downtown Salem.
"Basically, she just wouldn't stop," said J.F. Huddleston, a Roanoke police officer who started pursuing the girl on the 3500 block of Melrose Avenue Northwest.
Authorities said the girl had run away from home. At 5 feet 9 inches, she apparently had no problems driving - until a police officer spotted her about 9 a.m.
When the officer tried to pull her over, the 12-year-old headed west on Melrose going about 45 mph.
By the time she crossed the city line, Salem police were waiting with a roadblock at Main Street and Thompson Memorial Drive.
It slowed her a bit, but didn't stop her. After swerving past two police cars blocking, she kept on driving into downtown doing 35 mph.
That's when the driver of an animal control truck pulled into her path at Main and Market streets. "With as much pedestrian traffic as we had downtown, he elected to pull across the road," said Sgt. Jeff Dudley of the Salem Police Department.
No one was injured in the collision.
The 12-year-old was placed in the Coyner Springs Juvenile Detention Home on charges of unauthorized use of an automobile, failing to stop for police, reckless driving and driving without an operator's license.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB