Lenexa Police say that officers working on a foot patrol led to the arrest of a 13-year-old car thief late last month.
Master Police Officer Danny Chavez told the Post that around 1:40 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 22, officers were out of their cars on foot in the 8000 block of Lenexa Drive when they heard a vehicle crash.
Chavez says the vehicle had hit a curb at high speed and then attempted to drive away.
Recorded radio traffic from that morning states that the crash happened near the intersection of Lenexa Drive and Switzer Road along the Lenexa and Overland Park city lines.
The 2013 Hyundai Elantra turned north on Frontage Road, east on 79th Street and then into the parking lot of an Overland Park business.
Another officer found the car parked in a car wash bay at 10201 West 79th St. as a suspect was seen running east away from the vehicle, according to radio traffic.
Chavez said the car was determined to have been recently stolen from a nearby apartment complex.
According to radio traffic, Overland Park officers contacted the vehicle’s registered owner, who was unaware that the car had been stolen.
The suspect, identified as a 13-year-old male, was quickly tracked down by officers and arrested.
Radio traffic indicates that the suspect was taken into police custody just six minutes after running from the stolen car.
“He [the suspect] has been summoned for his first appearance on December 21 in the Juvenile Division of Johnson County District Court,” Chavez told the Post.
In an emailed response to the Post, a spokesperson for the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office said no charges in the case had been filed yet.
Mike Frizzell is a freelance crime and fire reporter who runs Operation 100 News.
