A Friday-night armed robbery turned to a blistering high speed chase Saturday morning.
McComb police first responded about 6 p.m. to a report of a juvenile robbing a couple on their porch.
Sgt. Bryant Jones said that after police left the armed robbery scene Friday night the suspect returned sometime early Saturday morning and stole the couple’s white 2014 Toyota Camry.
Police suspected the 16-year-old juvenile’s involvement and canvassed east McComb looking for the vehicle. Jones reportedly found the car parked near the projects off north end of Summit Street with the juvenile inside.
The juvenile fled on Summit Street and throughout east McComb at speeds of up to 45 miles an hour before turning east on U.S. 98, according to police radio traffic.
Once eastbound, speeds quickly increased to more than 80 mph, topping 100 mph multiple times as the Pike County Sheriff’s Office and Mississippi Highway Patrol joined the chase.
The juvenile sped through moderate traffic and officers asked dispatchers to alert the Walthall County Sheriff’s Office about the chase, according to police radio traffic.
Moments after the call, the suspect abruptly turned around at Gibson Road and fled west. Speeds quickly got back up to more than 100 mph even as the chase approached congestion on the east side of McComb.
Because officers had a history with the suspect, police reportedly thought he would try to bail out of the car near his home on Locust Street.
Jones said officers tried three times to stop the car with stop sticks, but the suspect managed to avoid them each time.
Once back in McComb, the chase turned south off of Pearl River Avenue onto Chestnut Street. At D Avenue, a Pike County Sheriff’s Office unit hit the car in the driver’s side, turning it and shoving it into a shallow ditch.
Police arrested the juvenile after the crash and the car’s owners arrived to recover the vehicle.
