Authorities are searching for at least three teenagers they believe fled following a police chase that started in Cape Girardeau County and ended when the suspects’ car crashed on the exit ramp from northbound I-55 to Hwy. 141 in Arnold on Wednesday morning, March 23. After the crash, suspects in the car ran away, and while two teenage boys were found and arrested, the others got away and had not been located as of this afternoon, March 24, Arnold Police reported.
Cpl. Brett Ackermann of the Arnold Police Department said investigators believe at least two teenage girls and a teenage boy got away after the 2018 Volkswagen Passat crashed.
Previously, Arnold Police reported that two of the suspects still on the loose may have been picked up by someone driving a vehicle around Christy Drive, which is near where the fleeing car crashed.
Initially, authorities said they believed only four people were in the fleeing car.
Following the crash, a 15-year-old boy was arrested at 6:23 a.m. after Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office German shepherd, Fabre, tracked him through a wooded area behind the Bandana’s Bar-B-Q restaurant, 1220 Big Bill Blvd., near the interstate in Arnold. The boy was hiding in a ditch and reportedly refused to come out for deputies, so Fabre was sent in and bit the suspect, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested at about 9:45 a.m. after he entered two businesses in the Water Tower Shopping Center near the interstate where the crash occurred, Arnold Police reported.
Ackermann said the teen first went into Fresenius Kidney Care Arnold Dialysis Center, 2194 Michigan Ave., and asked to use a phone and a mask. After no one at that office would provide the teen with a phone, he went to the Aldi grocery store, 2154 Michigan Ave., and asked an employee if he could use a phone.
Ackermann said Arnold Police officers arrested the teen at the grocery store.
The teenage boys were both turned over to the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office, Ackermann said. Authorities have not provided hometowns for the arrested teenagers.
Arnold Police will seek charges against the 16-year-old boy for felony leaving the scene of an accident, felony possession of stolen property, felony resisting arrest, first-degree tampering of a motor vehicle and possession of a controlled substance through the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Ackermann said.
The police pursuit began at about 4 a.m. Wednesday near Fruitland after multiple vehicle break-ins were reported to the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office, according to its Facebook page. The Facebook post said a witness attempted to follow the car involved in the break-ins but stopped when someone in the fleeing vehicle shot at the witness.
No injuries were reported from the shots fired.
The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office also said Jackson Police received multiple calls about a vehicle break-in believed to be related to the investigation.
After receiving reports about the break-ins, Cape Girardeau deputies began pursuing the fleeing car, and the chase went north on I-55 into Jefferson County.
Crystal City Chief Chad Helms said his officers were not involved in the pursuit, but one of his officers put out spike strips, which damaged two of the tires on the fleeing Passat when it was traveling north on I-55 near Hwy. 67. After driving over the spike strips, the car continued, Helms said.
Arnold Police reported deploying spike strips at 5:08 a.m. on I-55 near the Church Road overpass. The fleeing car ran over the spikes and eventually crashed into a guardrail on the exit ramp.
The Passat was reported stolen out of O’Fallon, and St. Louis Police have linked it to a homicide investigation, according to written statement from the Arnold Police.
That statement also said two guns were found in the crashed car, along with numerous items that investigators believe were stolen.
Arnold Police reported that substances believed to be narcotics also were found in the Passat.