A crime spree allegedly involving two Invercargill teens came to an abrupt end outside Dunedin Central Police Station yesterday morning.
Acting Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said a car allegedly driven by an 18-year-old man mounted a kerb while travelling along Tomahawk Rd, crashed into a parked Land Rover and rolled down a bank on to its side, about 5.30am.
The teen and his 15-year-old male companion reappeared in the centre city about an hour later.
The younger of the pair is then alleged to have attempted to steal a Kaan's Catering Supplies delivery truck from outside Vault 21 in the lower Octagon.
Snr Sgt Bond said the youth only managed to drive the truck a few metres towards the Princes St intersection before the driver of the truck entered the vehicle through the open passenger-side door.
At this point the youth decamped.
The pair were arrested shortly afterwards, outside the central police station, about 7.30am.
Snr Sgt Bond suspected the pair were unaware Great King St hosted the police station, which was rumoured to have once been mistaken as a hotel by visiting tourists who attempted to book a room at the front counter.
He said the car involved in the Tomahawk crash had been borrowed two weeks earlier from a relative of one of the pair.
Police did not believe drugs and alcohol were involved.
The pair, who were not related, were also being questioned by police yesterday about a petrol station drive-off in Palmerston.
They were jointly charged with unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, and further charges against the 18-year-old were likely. The 15-year-old was also referred to Youth Aid.
St John spokesman Gerard Campbell said ambulance officers treated one of the alleged offenders for a minor injury at the scene of the Tomahawk Rd crash.
