A teen with a history of trouble with police is facing new charges after a high-speed chase and crash in Akron.
After the pursuit late Sunday, the 16-year-old was taken to Akron Children's Hospital. But, eventually, he will appear at a place he knows very well—Summit County Juvenile Court.
Just before midnight Sunday, police spotted a Volkswagen Jetta speeding on Bellows Avenue near Steiner Street just after 11:50 p.m. Sunday.
When officers tried to stop the driver, he took off.
Police were able to catch up with the 16-year-old near the intersection of West Wilbeth and Manchester roads when he took a turn onto the dead-end streets that lead to the Cargill Salt plant.
The juvenile driving lost control and crashed into the Manchester Road bridge near the entrance to Cargill Salt allowing police to arrest both the juvenile driver and a passenger.
Officers found a loaded .22 caliber handgun in the driver's seat of the car.
As it turns out, the teen suspect was also involved in burglaries in Bath Township last summer.
In one case, a Subaru was taken from a garage and crashed outside the home. A four-hour search with a K-9 led to three juvenile arrests.
Akron police say the kid involved in Sunday's chase has been involved in two other pursuits and has been found in five other stolen cars. He has also allegedly burglarized several homes.
The teen has spent 80 days in juvenile lockup but keeps getting out and committing more crimes.
"Where does it go from here?" asked Akron police Lt. Rick Edwards. "The next one, is he going to hurt himself or is he going to hurt somebody else in the community? Somewhere, something needs to be done to somebody like this to keep him off the streets and make our citizens and himself safe."
The 16-year-old was charged, this time, with receiving stolen property, failure to comply with police orders and carrying a concealed weapon.
