Juvenile Caught Driving Stolen Vehicle In Meriden: Police

MERIDEN, CT — A juvenile was arrested after being caught driving a stolen car early Friday morning in Meriden, according to police.

Police saw a silver Kia Rio pull into the back of a parking lot on Broad Street around 5 a.m. Earlier in their shift, officers reported a silver Kia Rio that had been driving “recklessly throughout the city,” according to police.

Police said each time an officer tried to stop the car, the driver would drive off in an “extremely reckless manner at excessive speeds rendering it too dangerous for our officer’s to attempt to follow it.”

“Once the vehicle parked in the parking lot, the officers pulled into the lot and subsequently approached the driver who was walking away from the vehicle,” police wrote in a news release. “He was identified and determined to be a juvenile. The vehicle he had been driving was stolen out of Prospect; however, the registered owner had been unaware that his car had been stolen until we asked members of the CSP Troop I to respond to the owner’s home.

“Further investigation revealed that the juvenile had stolen another vehicle and driven it to Prospect earlier in the night. He then stole the above mentioned Kia in Prospect while acquaintances of his drove the other stolen car away. At this time we have no information as to where the other stolen car is, where it was stolen from, nor do we know who was driving it.”

The juvenile was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal trover, larceny of a motor vehicle, possession of burglary tools, reckless driving, stop sign violations, and operating a motor vehicle without a license.

Police said the juvenile was released to a parent after the booking procedures.