By Katie Byard
The Akron Beacon Journal
AKRON, Ohio — Akron police officer Daniel Marks was surprised to learn the driver of a pickup truck who led him on a chase and rammed into his cruiser Sunday afternoon was a 13-year-old boy.
Marks said when he first spotted the pickup, heading in the wrong direction on Fourth Street Southwest in Kenmore, he thought the diminutive driver was “an older woman going the wrong way down a one-way street.”
Turns out the driver of the 2007 Dodge Ram was a 13-year-old boy from Akron. The pickup had been stolen, and the boy had an outstanding warrant for assault in a prior incident. Information about the assault case was not available.
On Sunday, the chase ended when the boy drove through a fence and crashed into a parked truck in a lot at Shaffer’s Produce at 790 W. Wilbeth Road. The boy attempted to flee the fenced-in lot before Shaffer’s workers caught him, police said.
He was taken to Akron Children’s Hospital, where he was treated for minor injuries. Police said he hit his head on the pickup’s steering wheel in the crash. The officer was not injured in the crash.
The boy, whose name was not released, was in custody Sunday evening at the Summit County Juvenile Detention Center on Dan Street.
Akron Police Sgt. Gary Garrett said the boy faces multiple charges, including felony fleeing, receiving stolen property and felonious assault, which stems from hitting the police cruiser.
The incident began around 4:25 p.m. when Marks turned on his cruiser’s lights and sirens and attempted to stop the pickup that was traveling in the wrong direction on Fourth Street. The boy took off at a high speed.
He backed up and hit Marks’ cruiser while attempting to turn the corner at Sharon Street. After hitting the cruiser, the boy turned onto Sharon, heading west, the wrong way.
He then turned onto Sixth Street Southwest, traveling south — again going the wrong way.
On Sixth Street, he blew through several stop signs and the pickup reached about 80 mph, police said.
The boy turned west onto Maryland Avenue, and lost control of the pickup while rounding the curve where Maryland becomes West Wilbeth. He then drove through the fence and hit the parked truck at Shaffer’s Produce.
Garrett said the pickup had been stolen from an apartment complex on Romig Road.
Marks said the boy told officers he found the truck “running in the woods” somewhere.
Copyright 2013 the Akron Beacon Journal