Police: 15-year-old driving stolen car crashes into homes in Northeast Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA - Police are investigating a crash in Northeast Philadelphia involving a teenager behind the wheel, according to authorities.
Police say a traffic officer on patrol saw a Toyota Camry being driven at a high rate of speed in the area of Grant Avenue and Bluegrass Road around 2:30 a.m.
The officer began to follow the vehicle as it traveled to Welsh and Bluegrass where it almost crashed into a marked police car, authorities say.
At the intersection of Welsh Road and Dewees Street, the car jumped the curb, crashed through the fence of a private home, and drove over the lawn before it was launched into the air and landed on another car, Chief Inspector Scott Small said.
The car then crashed into the front of two twin homes, putting a large crack in the stone in the front of the property, authorities say.
The damage to the front of the properties is so extensive that inspectors have deemed it unsafe, police say.
Small says the officer who was following the Camry then took the driver, a 15-year-old, into custody.
Investigators say the car had been reported stolen from Northeast Philadelphia about 1 hour before.
Small says speed and reckless driving were a factor in the crash.