DONA ANA COUNTY, N.M. (KFOX/KDBC) -- A 12-year-old boy is accused of stealing a vehicle and taking friends to a pizza restaurant before leading authorities on a chase in New Mexico.
Deputies received several calls reporting a reckless driver around noon on Sunday, and when they responded, they discovered a 12-year-old driving a small blue-grey SUV.
"The SUV was driven by a juvenile who was running people off the road driving recklessly," said Doña Ana County Sheriff Sergent Dason Allen.
Allen said the juvenile stopped in a parking lot and picked up four other younger boys.
“We had attempted to BOLO for the vehicle for approximately, I would say, 30 minutes, and one of our deputies made contact with the vehicle on Doña Ana road, caught up to the vehicle on Armstrong and El Camino Real, where he engaged his lights to initiate the traffic stop, and then the vehicle continued to flee northbound on El Camino Real," Allen said.
The chase continued through the northern part of Las Cruces until the vehicle proceeded southbound on I-25 to Highway 70. The vehicle then continued east, exiting the highway and pulling into the parking lot of a Peter Piper Pizza.
According to Allen, the vehicle stopped and the four boys exited before the driver continued across a K-Mart parking lot and headed west into oncoming traffic. The 12-year-old was taken into custody after crashing head-on into another vehicle. One of the other boys was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Deputies said a 9 mm handgun was found in the area where the four other juveniles got out of the vehicle, and 9 mm casings and bullets were found on the 12-year-old boy who was driving the vehicle.
Officials said the vehicle was stolen but did not have details about the owner.
“Twelve years old, juvenile driving, so that’s not something that’s common that we deal with within this department," said Allen.
The 12-year-old was charged with conspiracy to commit a burglary of a vehicle, aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, and receiving and transferring a stolen motor vehicle.