WATERLOO REGION — Two damaged police vehicles, an officer sent to hospital, and a 16-year-old boy facing a laundry list of charges — and it all stems from an unlocked, running truck that proved too tempting to resist.
The crime spree was set in motion nearly a week ago, when a Chevy TrailBlazer was stolen in Hamilton.
Over the next five days, the teen suspect is believed to have stolen gas, tried to use a stolen credit card, struck a parked car and a police van, totalled a cruiser and prompted two police chases before he was finally captured Saturday night.
“Why not just leave him a loaded gun, because that’s exactly what they did,” said Waterloo Regional Police Staff Sgt. Marion Morrison, referring to the motorist who left the TrailBlazer ripe for the picking.
“There’s exactly the same potential for serious bodily harm or death.”
The SUV came to the attention of local police when it was involved in a gas theft at a Cambridge station on Thursday. Two days later, a pair of male suspects tried to use a stolen credit card at Fairview Park Mall and hit a parked car as they fled the scene in the stolen TrailBlazer.
Police traced one of them, the 16-year-old boy, to an address in Kitchener. But the TrailBlazer took off as officers closed in Saturday afternoon, sparking a short pursuit that was called off due to safety concerns.
A few hours later, just after 8 p.m., the vehicle was spotted at a Shell gas station on King Street near Gateway Park Drive. The slippery suspect, who was inside the store as police arrived, got away on foot.
As officers flooded the area, the suspect made it back to the SUV and hopped in, ramming a police van in the gas station lot before plowing into a cruiser on King Street. As paramedics arrived to take that officer to hospital — where he was treated and released for minor injuries — the second pursuit was on.
Heavily-damaged and running on a bare rim, the TrailBlazer headed for the highway, exiting the 401 at Fountain Street. Police again decided to end the chase, concerned for public safety “due to the escalation of his dangerous behaviour,” Morrison said. “There’s just such a risk what could happen.”
But the TrailBlazer conveniently left its own trail, dropping debris that officers followed to Blair Road at Kenmore Avenue in Cambridge. There, the suspect had lost control, the damage he’d caused essentially imprisoning him inside the vehicle until police arrived.
He was taken to hospital as a precaution, having suffered a minor injury to his cheek. Alcohol and drugs are not believed to have been factors.
“He just seemed to have this courage that he could keep going. It’s very scary,” Morrison said. “It could have been a whole lot worse.”
The teen, of no fixed address, faces a host of charges including dangerous driving causing bodily harm, theft, possession and two counts each of flight from police and failing to remain.
bdavis@therecord.com