Citizen Staff Writer
LAW AND ORDER REPORT
DAVID L. TEIBEL
dteibel@tucsoncitizen.com
Two runaway boys trying to elude a deputy sheriff after allegedly assaulting one’s grandmother rolled her vehicle on state Route 87 early Wednesday, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said.
The 16- and 14-year-olds were being sought by Tucson police in connection with the assault earlier in the city, Deputy Dawn Barkman said.
A deputy spotted the pair about 3:45 a.m. on West Orange Grove Road near Interstate 10.
When the deputy turned on his patrol car’s emergency lights and siren signaling the teens to stop, the boys fled, Barkman said.
The pursuit went for miles before the teen driver lost control of the vehicle and it rolled on state Route 87, about 10 miles north of Picacho Peak in Pinal County.
The deputy did not see the crash, but came across the wreckage, Barkman said.
One of the boys was not injured; the other, complaining of neck pain, was taken to a hospital for examination, Barkman said.
Tucson police arrested the uninjured teen, Barkman said.
The teens were being sought in connection with an assault on the 16-year-old’s grandmother, city police spokesman Sgt. Fabian Pacheco said.
The runaways, from a midtown group home, went to the 56-year-old grandmother’s home near East Glenn Street and North Craycroft Road. One of the pair cut her arms with a knife and hit her in the face before stealing the woman’s cell phone, car keys and her 2009 Lexus SUV, Pacheco said.
The woman did not require hospitalization, Pacheco said.
Pacheco could not say if either boy was immediately arrested in the assault case. Their names were withheld because of their ages.
Deputy: 2 fleeing teens crash after alleged assault, SUV theft