Five Western Mass. teens arrested after stolen car crashes with two others on I-91
The car chase began after a Holyoke police sergeant noticed a car that had been reported stolen driving around the city with five people inside, Holyoke police said in a press release. The sergeant tried to pull over the stolen car as it went into the Holyoke Mall parking lot, but the driver accelerated and crashed through two wooden barriers around a construction zone.
The stolen car continued onto I-91 south and tried to get off at an exit, but it collided with another vehicle, which led to a third vehicle being struck, police said. All five people in the stolen car ran into the woods following the crash.
The sergeant checked on the people in the other two vehicles and then began searching for the suspects, police said. West Springfield police and Massachusetts State Police troopers and the State Police Air Wing responded to the scene to aid in the search.
West Springfield police located all five of the suspects: an 18-year-old Chicopee man, a male 17-year-old from Holyoke, a 15-year-old Springfield girl, a 14-year-old Pittsfield girl and a 24-year-old Springfield woman, police said. They arrested the 17-year-old, 15-year-old and 14-year-old, who declined a medical evaluation, and the 18-year-old and 24-year-old were taken to Baystate Medical Center with injuries but are being charged with receiving a stolen vehicle.
The investigation into the incident indicated that the 17-year-old was driving the stolen car during the car chase, police said. Holyoke police did not identify any of the suspects.
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