Pair lead police on high-speed chase

Two 17-year-old boys started their new year by leading authorities on an hour-long, 80-mile, high-speed chase through three counties in a stolen truck, the California Highway Patrol reported.

No one was injured in the pursuit through Colusa, Glenn and Butte coutnies, which topped 100 mph and saw the fleeing driver and his passenger plow through an almond orchard and avoid a CHP barrier and a highway spike strip, authorities said. The pair eventually pulled over and surrendered without incident.

The chase began about 12:42 a.m. Thursday in Colusa County, when a county sheriff’s deputy attempted to stop a light-colored 1993 Ford F-150 after the truck’s driver reportedly swerved broadly around a corner onto Maxwell-Colusa Road.

It was not clear where the driver and his passenger were coming from; however, the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Lincoln earlier in the week, CHP Sgt. Scott Evans said.

The vehicle being pursued then accelerated onto northbound Interstate 5 at speeds of about 100 mph. Glenn County units joined the chase near Delevan Road at 12:45 a.m., Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said.

The suspect took the County Road 57 exit, heading eastbound at about 95 mph just before 1 a.m. He headed north on County Road P for several minutes at speeds ranging from 60-95 mph, officials reported. The suspect blew the intersection at County Road P and Highway 162, just north of Willows, at about 12:56 a.m. and continued northbound.

Willows police Sgt. Jason Dahl reported the suspects’ vehicle swerving and taking up both traffic lanes.

The driver blew through another stop sign at County Road 39 and P, just south of Bayliss, going about 70 mph just before 1 a.m., police said.

Glenn County Sheriff’s Deputy Heath Rasmussen reported the driver left County Road P and drove the truck northbound, with its lights off, into an almond orchard at 1:01 a.m.

Units scrambled to establish a perimeter around the orchard, but the vehicle’s driver made it to County Road 33 ahead of them. The driver continued northbound on County Road S from County Road 33 at speeds ranging from 60 to 85 mph.

The suspect avoided a CHP barricade and turned eastbound on Highway 32, passing Taylor Trucking going more than 100 mph, Jones said. He continued through Hamilton City at speeds ranging 65-85 mph and crossed the bridge into Butte County at about 1:22 a.m.

The car swerved around a CHP spike-strip at Highway 32 and Meridian Road and continued into Chico. The chase continued through Chico on East Avenue, before the suspects left Chico heading southbound on Afton Road.

“After all that time, they turned their hazard lights on and just pulled over,” Evans said.

Both suspects were taken into custody without further incident at 1:56 a.m., on Afton Road just north of Biggs, he said.

Fortunately, the weather was clear and traffic was light throughout the chase, authorities said.

The teens, whose names are being withheld because of their age, were booked on suspicion of auto theft, possession of stolen property and other minor allegations, Evans said. They were booked into the Butte County juvenile detention center in Oroville.

A court date was not immediately available.

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.