Kids steal car, chased by police into Latvia

Photo: montaaž

A little more than a week ago, on March 21^st, 13 to 16 year old youngsters got together in a Tallinn shopping mall. Halfway into school holidays, with time on their hands. Loosely connected: Facebook friends, in a kind of a chain reaction. The most far-away «hanger-out» being all the way from Jõgeva County. A girl came from Pärnu, the rest were Tallinners.

As darkness descended upon Tallinn, a local girl offered to move over, to her place. Securing afterparty-licence from Mom, she took the coterie to their private house at the edge of town.

Car keys nicked from coat pocket

Arriving at midnight, they found the house all quiet with parents asleep upstairs. The hostess only new one of the party folks, the eldest of them all – a guy aged 20. Looking back at what proceeded, it seems ironic that this was the only kid around with a more problematic background, yet emerging guiltless. Being the first one to tire out and fall asleep downstairs. The rest caroused till dawn, then taking their leave.

As parents got up in the morning, getting ready for work, mother failed to find the car purchased last year, a €20,000 Toyota Verso in the driveway. The car keys had been readily available in a coat pocket, in the corridor. While they were at it, the guests also took along a $400 laptop, from downstairs.

The theft was reported to Police, who had a piece of bad news for the family. As the mother’s Toyota had, in the early hours of the day, been involved in the craziest chase of recent years, on Tallinn-Pärnu-Ikla highway. Culminating in a town named Salacgriva, some 20 kilometres into Latvia. The unauthorised users had been arrested, waiting to be delivered to Estonia.

«The story is strikingly different from others of the kind,» says Toomas Jervson, head of property crimes department in Northern Prefecture.

Unauthorised driving does, from time to time, happen. Here, however, we meet many a curious detail. First: the youth and the law-abiding past of the offenders. As well as the fact that none owned a driving licence.

«Indeed, they realised the driver not being the safest. So, while on the road, the shifted driver many times. Not making the vehicle safer for traffic, though,» says, Viktor Brujev, who heads up the car-chase unit.

But there’s more: like the random idea of having an adventure abroad – in Riga. Armed with pocket money and the tank full of gas, as it seemed. «This is the first time a case like this ended up abroad, in the jurisdiction of another country,» says Mr Jervson.

But, for now, let Latvia wait. For, for the start, the bunch hit Pärnu, where, due to low driving skills, they wound up stuck in snow. The youths were helped out by somebody in a jeep with «white dogs», pulling the drunken kids back onto the road. «Should that person, looking back at it now, recognises himself, he might sign up to police up as witness,» says Mr Brujev.

Things got tough after Pärnu, after the local girl wanting to go home was let out. And the car headed for Riga. A dozen kilometres thereafter, the clumsily driven Toyota caused a hazardous situation in Uulu, not giving way to a car with the right of way.

Of which, Police was notified at 8.42 am, launching a mobile unit from nearby Häädemeeste. The unit, reaching the Toyota at 8.56 am, signalled for them to come to a stop. Whereupon, the kids pressed the pedal to the metal.

Wild chase followed, up to 190 km/h on icy morning road. With four people in the Toyota, the police thought it unsafe to shoot the tires. The risk of a ricochet hit into the cabin being too great.

At 9.05 am, the Toyota crossed Estonia-Latvia border, where a Latvian police unit took over. Pretty soon, the Latvians were forced to accept defeat, as the Estonian Toyota performed exceedingly dangerous manoeuvres amid trucks. And escaped.

At 9.35 am, the stranded Toyota was found by Latvian police in Salacgriva, on a residential area, amongst houses. Having had an accident.

It took nearly an hour to catch the four young criminals. During that time, the comrades, some of them naively thinking they were in a suburb of Riga, visited a store, attempting to pay in euros. Latvia not being in eurozone, they were directed to a local bank branch to change money. For some reason, the bank people received them not.

And then and there, the kids were caught. Six hours later, they were handed over to Estonian police. Reasons for strictness abounded: Northern Prefecture having initiated criminal proceedings.

For unauthorised use of a vehicle, they now face criminal punishment. The whole bunch having no prior offences, the court will, in all probability, not act overly severe. However, the kids – to be more precise, their parents – do need to compensate damage caused to the car, €4,800 all in all.

Shockingly, however, the kids-adventurers still dared to feel puffed up about their death-trip. «That’s the feeling we got, as they sat here, waiting to be questioned,» says Mr Jervson.

We can only imagine, if a night spent in jail managed to cut at least a little bit into their childish pride.