Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Quay County sheriff’s deputies last week helped apprehend five juveniles from Texas in a stolen vehicle who briefly led officers on a high-speed chase south of Tucumcari.
According to a law-incident report by the sheriff’s office, deputy Larry Cooksey the evening of Jan. 30 was sent to Highway 209 south of Tucumcari to check on a Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle with Texas plates coming from Curry County.
The SUV had been stolen from Randall County, Texas, and was believed to be occupied by two male juveniles and three female juveniles, including one charged with a felony, who had escaped from a juvenile facility there.
A Randall County sheriff’s deputy informed Cooksey his office was tracking the stolen vehicle by a global-positioning system and the driver had fled deputies in Deaf Smith County, Texas. The GPS informed them the vehicle was on Highway 209 just north of the Quay County line.
Two other deputies were behind Cooksey going south on Highway 209 when they encountered a northbound Explorer about mile marker 71. Cooksey stated in his report he turned around his vehicle before activating his emergency lights, and the SUV immediately accelerated. One deputy reported the SUV was going in excess of 100 mph.
Another deputy used stop sticks at mile marker 77 to flatten the SUV’s tires. The Explorer continued for about a half-mile, drove off the right side of the road through a fence and continued through a field out of sight.
The deputies eventually found the vehicle about 500 yards from the highway, abandoned with the engine running. Officers saw tracks from the SUV going east and south but saw little else because it was dark with no moon. They searched the area for about four hours, while having the fence repaired and the SUV towed away.
Quay County Emergency Management sent out a text, telling about the search for the juveniles and that residents in that area should lock their residence and vehicles and call 911 if they saw anything suspicious.
Deputies went back to the area at daylight to resume the search and checked buildings along the highway.
About 1 p.m. Jan. 31, Cooksey was informed the five juveniles had been dropped off at the McDonald’s restaurant in Tucumcari. They were taken into custody at the nearby Desert Inn motel.
Cooksey wrote that Texas Child Protective Services made arrangements to pick up the five juveniles at the Texas border.