California 12-year-old leads police on high-speed pursuit, cops say
September 23, 2025
2,149
Sheriff’s deputies are used to following vehicles on wild pursuits, but the person behind the wheel during a speedy Monday morning chase was far from the usual suspect — it was a 12-year-old boy accused of taking his parents’ truck on a joyride to school, authorities said.
Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies responded to a call shortly before 7 a.m. regarding a boy who had taken his parents’ vehicle to his former school on Caymus Drive in south Sacramento. He knocked over several traffic cones by the school and then drove away, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The boy visited his former school before refusing to stop for sheriff’s deputies, resulting in a chase, authorities said.
(Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office)
Deputies attempted to stop the vehicle but said the boy refused, leading authorities on a pursuit through the surrounding neighborhood where speeds reached up to 70 mph, according to department spokesperson Sgt. Amar Gandhi. The brief chase culminated in the boy crashing the truck into a patrol car and a parked vehicle.
Photos shared by the department show a Ford pick-up with severe damage to the front driver’s side and a flat tire.
No one was injured during the incident, and the boy was taken into custody. He was booked on suspicion of hit and run, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, reckless evasion of a peace officer, vehicle theft and receiving a stolen vehicle, Gandhi said.
In California, 12 is the minimum age at which a minor can be held criminally responsible for charges in juvenile court.
As the child is under 14, officers are legally required to take him into temporary custody while they contact his guardians. Gandhi said Friday afternoon that he expected the boy had been, or would shortly be, released to his parents.
Juvenile cases are sent to a county probation officer who reviews the police report, interviews the child and family and then decides whether to file a petition for charges in juvenile court or handle it informally through avenues such as warnings or required counseling.
The boys parents’ are not facing any criminal charges. Should a civil case be filed, however, they could be found financially responsible for damage caused by the boy, Gandhi said.
A legjobb élmény biztosítása érdekében olyan technológiákat használunk, mint a cookie-k az eszközadatok tárolására és/vagy eléréséhez. Ha beleegyezik ezekbe a technológiákba, akkor olyan adatokat dolgozhatunk fel ezen az oldalon, mint a böngészési viselkedés vagy az egyedi azonosítók. A hozzájárulás elmulasztása vagy visszavonása bizonyos funkciókat és funkciókat hátrányosan érinthet.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
