12-Year-Old Driver Arrested After Wild 85 M.P.H. Car Chase

A 12-year-old girl driving her parents’ car led police on a wild 85 m.p.h. chase through the northeast San Fernando Valley before running through a red light and crashing the car into a pickup truck, authorities said Monday.

Five people, including the girl, were injured in the crash, Los Angeles police said.

The girl was arrested on suspicion of reckless driving and evading arrest, Detective Anthony Bartolotto said.

Investigators also arrested the driver of the pickup truck, who was one of the injured, when they learned he was wanted on a drug warrant.

Erratic Driving

Bartolotto said the chase began about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when the girl was spotted by patrol officers as she drove a 1977 Ford erratically in Pacoima. The officers attempted to pull the car over near Herrick Avenue and Pierce Street, but the driver sped off.

Police said the car, which also carried two boys, 13 and 16 years old, raced south on surface streets through Pacoima and parts of Panorama City and North Hollywood before heading back to Pacoima.

Other police cars and a helicopter joined in the pursuit. But Bartolotto said the patrol cars dropped out of the chase when the helicopter reported that the Ford was heading toward Osborne Street and San Fernando Road, an intersection where there was heavy traffic congestion.

“They backed away because she was going so fast, and there was a lot of traffic ahead,” Bartolotto said. “But she didn’t slow down. She blew through the red light going 85 m.p.h.”

Police said the Ford hit the side of the pickup and knocked it across the intersection into a utility pole.

The girl suffered two broken legs, two broken hands and internal injuries. She was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where she was in serious condition, police said. Her two passengers were treated for minor cuts and bruises at Pacifica Hospital of the Valley in Sun Valley. The names of the three juveniles were not released.

The pickup truck’s driver, Robert Bacher, 35, of Pacoima was treated for broken ribs and other injuries at San Fernando Community Hospital. He later was transferred to the jail ward of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center when it was determined that he was wanted on a felony narcotics warrant from Redondo Beach, police said.

His passenger, Sonia Walker, 31, of Pacoima, suffered broken bones and other injuries and was in critical condition at Holy Cross Medical Center, officials said.