Escapee crashes car into building

[smokey703]

The Advocate. Baton Rouge, L.a.


An escapee from a juvenile prison led police on a chase Wednesday evening that culminated with a fiery crash into a hardware store on North Foster Drive.

After the crash at about 5:45 p.m., police arrested the juvenile, who is accused of pistol whipping and robbing a woman at 5:23 p.m. at a convenience store at 12351 Florida Blvd. before taking her Toyota Camry, police spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said.

Police spotted the vehicle shortly after the robbery and chased it until the juvenile tried to make a turn off North Foster onto Jackson Street, hit the curb and crashed into the side of Chenevert True Value Hardware, which was closed for the day, McKneely said.

E.J. Phillips, 41, was sitting on the front lawn of a neighbor’s house at 4914 Jackson St. when he heard sirens and saw the dark gray Camry fly 2 or 3 feet into the air after hitting the curb and careen into the side of the building.

Phillips said police, unaware the Camry had crashed into a building, sped past the store while his wife ran to call 911 to inform officials of the wreck and the resulting fire.

“It was just like on ‘Cops’ or ‘World’s Wildest Police Chases,’ ” Phillips said. It “sounded like three or four bombs going off.”

Police, who did not release the name of the juvenile, believed he was armed with a gun while trapped in the hardware store, which had burst into flames, McNeely said.

With the Fire Department dousing the front of the building, the Police Department’s Special Response Team sent an armored vehicle to the back and pulled off the garage door.

The juvenile immediately emerged with his hands up, according the Phillips.

“He was at the back door begging to get out,” McKneely said.

He said the juvenile, who was not armed when caught, is in his late teens and is an escapee from Jetson Correctional Center for Youth in north Baton Rouge

[Star Man]

Too bad they saved him from himself.