OTTAWA COUNTY, MI – Four teens suspected of burglarizing a cellphone store crashed a stolen car while fleeing police before one fled in an unmarked patrol car and others led police on foot chases.
The suspects – Grand Rapids residents, ages 14 to 17 – were eventually arrested Tuesday, Aug. 27.
Police say they could be tied to other cellphone store break-ins.
It started early this morning, when a vehicle was stolen from St. Joseph County.
Authorities were tracking the vehicle when an Ottawa County sheriff’s deputy spotted it around 7:50 a.m. near Burger King on North River Avenue in Holland Township.
The vehicle fled at a high speed, going east on Lakewood Boulevard. The driver tried to turn right onto 112th Avenue but he was going too fast. The vehicle crashed into a utility pole, causing traffic lights to drop and block the busy intersection.
The teens ran from the car. Police nabbed two males near the scene. A female then jumped into an unmarked police car belonging to a deputy who stopped to help with the foot chase.
Police found her less than two miles away in Zeeland. The fourth was found on Paw Paw Drive just south of business I-196.
One of the teens was treated for a minor injury suffered in the crash.
Police said they found property in the stolen car that had been taken from a cellphone store on Douglas Avenue, near where police initially spotted the car. Police think the suspects had broken into the store shortly before the deputy saw their car.
Sheriff’s detectives are working with other agencies to determine if the four teens are tied to a rash of burglaries at cellphone stores in Kent and Ottawa counties, sheriff’s Capt. Mark Bennett said.
Holland and Zeeland police also responded.
Zeeland schools in the area were put on alert while police looked for two of the suspects who initially got away after the crash.
