Teens charged, baby safe after Grove City police pursuit
By: -----
Grove City, OH - Two teenagers are facing charges following an incident in which they allegedly fled from police, all while having a one-year-old child in the car.
The incident, which happened Friday, in Grove City, saw officers attempt to pull over a car because the two teens inside it, a 17-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl, were suspected of shoplifting, according to Grove City Police Lt. Jason Stern.
According to police, the driver did not stop for the officer. Stern said the teen went on to hit seven other cars in the area of Stringtown Road and Buckeye Parkway.
“What may have started as a theft traffic stop or suspected shoplifting stop changed immediately to, OK, now we’ve got a real violent encounter, we’ve got someone who’s rammed civilians, that’s significant violence,” Stern said.
After a few minutes, an officer successfully used stop sticks on the car around State Route 665 and Borror Road.
Stern said that at that point, the driver and passenger ran away on foot. A Columbus Division of Police helicopter and K9 unit were used to look for them. The 14-year-old passenger gave herself up, according to police, but the driver kept running into the woods and hiding.
“For the last at least five years, you can track all over central Ohio — and Franklin County in particular — you can track an escalation of juvenile violence, where what used to be just shoplifting is now ramming vehicles and fleeing,” Stern said.
Stern said the 17-year-old was found in a creek with her one-year-old baby. He said that was the first time officers realized a baby had been with the driver — the child’s mother — for the whole situation.
“It’s heartbreaking for anybody that’s got a conscience,” Stern said. “Imagine the emotions, you’re up here dealing with that level of violence and that type of response, and then you’re switching gear to care for a child that just about drowned, there’s a lot going on there, and it just breaks everybody’s heart because that child didn’t pick this.”
Police said no one, including the baby, was hurt in the incident.
The baby is now in the care of other relatives, according to Franklin County Children Services.
The 17-year-old mother is charged with obstructing official business, failure to comply with order or signal of a police officer, endangering children, and several traffic offenses including hit-skip. The 14-year-old passenger was charged with obstructing official business.