INDIANAPOLIS — Two Indy teens wound up in handcuffs Wednesday night after separate police chases in central Indiana.
An IMPD police report said a 15-year-old was arrested after leading police on a chase on I-70 that ended in a crash just off the exit ramp on Rural Street Wednesday night.
The chase started after an IMPD officer watched the teen crash on the highway, when the car pulled back onto the highway away from the officer with flashing lights, a chase began.
”The officer that was pursuing thought that this could’ve been an individual that was intoxicated or having a medical episode,” said IMPD Public Information Officer Tommy Thompson.
Thompson said the driver headed down I-70 at a high rate of speed before crashing on Rural Street and the Keystone Avenue exit. The driver’s car hit another car. The people inside are expected to be okay.
”We feel for them,” Thompson said. “They were innocent bystanders when someone made a choice.”
Once IMPD caught up to the car, they discovered it was stolen.
“Sadly the juveniles are watching YouTube, and TikTok and videos and social media, in which they find ways and means and methods to steal these vehicles and they go out and do that,” said Thompson.
Also in the 15-year-old’s possession was a Glock handgun with an illegal machine gun conversion device attached.
”Extremely dangerous,” Thompson said, describing the conversion device. “The amount of rounds they can fire in a short span, unload a magazine or a magazine drum, in a matter of seconds. Just like that.”
The teen was arrested without further incident.
”There’s too many juveniles with firearms right now and our concern is we want parents to know where their children are at, who their children are hanging out with, what their children are into,” Thompson said.
Meanwhile, just one county south another Indianapolis teen was leading police on a chase through Johnson County.
Whiteland Police said a 16-year-old was arrested after police followed his car through towns including Whiteland, Franklin, Amity, Edinburgh and Taylorsville. Police believe it was a joy-ride scenario.
“As far as we look at it, it was a thrill ride to see how long we could chase him,” said Whiteland PD Chief Rick Shipp. “He actually ran out of gas during the pursuit.”
Stop Sticks were also deployed to stop the car in Edinburgh. Officer Alejandro Gonzalez was one of the officers chasing the teen.
“It is a little bit upsetting because a teenage mindset,” he said. “They still don’t realize what risks are out there, the possibility of that pursuit. It could’ve ended in a fatality.”
Kareem Hines, the founder of New Breed of Youth Development or New BOY, works with teens involved in the juvenile justice system. More than 60% of his group is involved or has formerly been involved.
From his experience, Hines said kids do these illegal activities for attention.
”Kids want to be popular,” Hines said. “If you’re in a stolen car, you go live, you have a Glock switch on your firearm. It’s clout. Unfortunately, that is dictating to our young men and some of our young ladies in our society.”
Hines said the public sees the results but doesn’t ask questions about why those decisions were made.
”I want to know the thought process,” Hines said. “I want to connect with him in some sort of way where he helps walk me through, ‘How did you make that decision, what happened,’ because there is always a root cause.”
Hines said solving the violent and illegal issues many teens are involved in nowadays has no overnight solution.
”We want him to think differently about school, we want him to think differently about his peer circles, we want him to think differently about guns,” Hines said. “And most importantly we want him to think differently about conflict resolution.”
Hines said parents and adults need to be involved in these teens’ lives and ensure they have positive activities around them. Especially to keep them busy in the summer months.
”Get out here and engage these young people, find their program, give them a ride to a program, research the programs in Indy and get our kids connected to something,” Hines said. “If they’re not connected to something they definitely get into something.”
New BOY has several activities coming up for teens of all ages. Friday is the debut of the first New BOY play. ‘Here Me, Hear Me’ is described as an in-your-face play that captures the truth about the daily struggles of youth. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. at 9501 East 36th Place.
On Saturday, June 8 New BOY is hosting the Peace in our Streets Youth Led Safe Summer Community Celebration at 6701 Oaklandon Rd. There will be basketball, boxing, dance contests and free food. It goes from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
