Two Mississippi teens were arrested after West Memphis police said the teens attempted to pull over a tractor-trailer in a stolen police car.
Police said they saw an unmarked 2013 black Ford SUV activate its blue lights while following a tractor-trailer along Martin Luther King Drive early Thursday, according to a news release from the West Memphis Police Department.
When officers approached the car, the blue lights were shut off and the vehicle pulled into a truck stop, according to the news release. Both of its occupants fled when police approached the vehicle, the release said.
Police arrested Marquian Lackland, 19, of Olive Branch, Miss., and an unidentified 15-year-old from Walls, Miss., in the area a short time later, the release said. They face misdemeanor charges of fleeing and reckless driving as well as felony charges of theft by receiving and impersonating a law enforcement officer.
The teens were being held Friday in the Crittenden County jail awaiting possible extradition to Mississippi, according to police.
Both teens admitted to West Memphis detectives that they took the vehicle, which belonged to the Southaven Police Department in Southaven, Miss., from a repair shop in Horn Lake, Miss. Horn Lake is roughly 15 minutes from Southaven.
Capt. Troy Rowell of the Horn Lake Police Department said investigators from his department had not spoken with the teens and had no idea why they might have taken the vehicle.
"Of course, when they took this vehicle they probably didn't know it was a police vehicle because it was an unmarked detective's vehicle," Rowell said.
He said Horn Lake police are working with the juvenile court system to determine what charges the 15-year-old could face in Mississippi. Lackland could face up to 10 years if convicted of his charges, Rowell said.
"In Mississippi, motor-vehicle theft, if the value is between $5,000 and $25,0000, means he could get up to 10 years," he said. "But if he has never been in any trouble before, the court typically is not going to give that person the maximum sentence unless there was some very egregious facts in the case."
Southaven Police Chief Steve Pirtle said he has been with his police department for 33 years. He said the department had never had a police vehicle stolen during that time but that police frequently deal with stolen cars in the town of about 52,000.
"It is a crime we fight against everyday," he said. "It just goes to show you that anyone can be a victim at any time and any place."
State Desk on 06/18/2016