A Dunedin 15-year-old accused of multiple driving offences including fleeing from police more than 10 times has ended up in the dock.
The teen was taken into custody yesterday following an alleged attempted carjacking in Dunedin which turned into a 90-minute game of hide-and-seek between him, two accomplices and police dogs in South Otago.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said the youth was charged with 11 fleeing driver events, three unlawfully taking of a motor vehicle, one attempted unlawfully taking of a motor vehicle and two willful damage events collected by the teen over the past month.
Snr Sgt Bond said three teens, one 15-year old and two 18-year-olds attempted to carjack a vehicle in Gowland St yesterday about 1.50pm before fleeing in a stolen Nissan Tiida.
The trio were also involved in a road rage incident and had attempted to steal a luxury car in the CBD.
Police were alerted by a member of the public who managed to provide the registration plate details for the Nissan Tiida the teens were travelling in.
After making inquiries, officers spotted the trio in Corstorphine later in the afternoon and followed it to Waihola in South Otago.
Around 4.30pm, police deployed road spikes in Finlayson Rd in Waihola.
The vehicle drove over the spikes and came to a stop.
The trio then fled the car and ran through the forestry block in the area.
Dog units were brought in to track the trio through the forestry block and members of the public assisted police in letting them know about sightings of the youths as they progressed through the block.
At 6pm, after a 90 minute search by police and dog units, the trio were located, each attempting to evade police in three separate areas of the forestry block.
All three were arrested.
One of the 18-year-olds was charged with charged with unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle.
The other 18-year-old was also charged with unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle as well as willful damage and threatening behavior.
Both will appear in court on Thursday.
The 15-year-old is facing a raft of charges from yesterday, as well as further historic traffic offences for incidents over the last month.
He was appearing in the Dunedin Youth Court today with police opposing bail.
