By Joe Johnson
Two runaways from a state Division of Families and Children Services facility in southwest Georgia were arrested Sunday after they stole a pickup truck in Athens and led officers on a chase, Athens-Clarke County police said.
The incident began at about 5 p.m. when county police said they received a call from a Monroe resident who reported that his pick-up truck had been stolen from a gas station on Atlanta Highway.
While ACCPD units were responding, an officer noticed the stolen vehicle stopped at a red light near Riverhill Drive, at which time the pickup fled the area, police said.
Georgia State Patrol units “engaged and stopped” the stolen truck on the Athens Perimeter near North Avenue, according to police, who said the truck “struck at least two other private vehicles during the incident.”
No one was injured, police said.
The truck’s two male occupants, ages 15 and 16, who were reported as runaways from a DFACS facility in Columbus were taken into custody on charges of theft by taking a motor vehicle. The driver was additionally charged with reckless driving, fleeing and attempting to elude police, and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident.
They were transported to the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center.