Texas 12-year-old leads police on chase

FAYETTE COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - Authorities said a 12-year-old boy was behind the wheel of a truck that led them on a nighttime chase through Fayette County Monday night, with speeds topping 100 mph.

Fayette County Sheriff Keith Korenek said the chase began at 10 p.m. after calls came in about a possible intoxicated driver on eastbound I-10 who did not have his headlights on.

A sheriff's deputy said he found the boy in the vehicle and tried to conduct a traffic stop, but the vehicle refused to stop.

Deputies chased the vehicle for about 14 miles until Weimar Police Department officers spiked the tires, bringing it to a halt. That's when authorities said they noticed the driver was a 12-year-old runaway from Comal County.

Authorities said he had marijuana, drug paraphernalia, a pistol and the vehicle that he had taken from his father without permission.

Video showed the boy exiting the vehicle with his hands raised and saying he was trying to call his mother. No one was hurt.

Deputies took the boy to the Juvenile Detention Center in Victoria, and a judge in La Grange later decided the child must stay in juvenile detention during the investigation.