A fleeing stolen car with a 17-year-old behind the wheel, three passengers and three guns. That’s the recipe for danger Juvenile Crime Task Force officers and an MNPD helicopter successfully ended late Wednesday night.
Task Force officers spotted a stolen 2016 Honda Civic, taken Wednesday morning from a Donelson Pike convenience market, on I-440. A traffic stop was attempted, but the driver accelerated. Officers pursued the Honda on I-40 west to exit 196 in Bellevue, where the 17-year-old got off the interstate and then got back on headed east. At that moment, an MNPD helicopter arrived and monitored the car from the air. The teen exited onto Charlotte Pike. With information coming from the helicopter, an officer successfully deployed spike strips in the 5500 block of Charlotte Pike. The Honda, now with two flattened tires, came to a stop at 46th & Nebraska Avenues. Three of the four occupants immediately surrendered. A fourth, Brandon Tarleton, 18, ran toward Colorado Avenue and was apprehended on the front porch of a home.
Three loaded guns, all with rounds in the chambers, were located on the ground near the Honda on 46th Avenue North.
The 17-year-old driver is charged with vehicle theft, being a juvenile runaway, unlawful gun possession, felony evading arrest, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Surveillance video from the convenience market shows him jumping into the car and driving away. The owner had left the key in the vehicle as she went into the store to make a purchase. The 17-year-old was arrested for vehicle theft, reckless endangerment and felony evading in February 2017.
Tarleton and Rodale Lewis, 22, who has convictions for felony evading, are charged with vehicle theft, contributing to the delinquency of minors and unlawful gun possession.
A 15-year-old in the car is charged with vehicle theft, unlawful gun possession and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was arrested in August 2019 on charges of vehicle theft and evading arrest.
