Unauthorized use of a vehicle

Police log 03/16/07

Friday, March 16, 2007 6:07 AM MST

Unauthorized use of a vehicle

A 16-year-old boy was arrested after joyriding in a friend's car Wednesday morning.

According to Flagstaff police reports, an officer was called to the area of Butler and Foxhill at about 8:23 a.m. on a call of a speeding, reckless driver. A witness said he saw a gray Mini Cooper nearly flip as it made a turn onto Amberwood, then said he was passed again by the car near Butler and Foxhill. He said the car, which was traveling at about 100 mph and smelled of burning clutch, was full of juveniles and probably heading toward Sinagua High School. The officer found the car at the Sinagua parking lot, and contacted the daughter of the registered owner, who said she had given a friend her keys right before classes started so he could retrieve a calculator he'd left in the vehicle. She said she told the friend not to drive the car and he said he wouldn't, reports stated.

When the assistant principal went to pull the boy from class, he was not there, and the officer found that the car was no longer in the lot. The officer searched the area for it and spotted it driving east on Butler, about to turn into the school lot. The officer stopped the car, identified the driver, and arrested him.

The boy was referred to juvenile authorities for unauthorized use of a vehicle and released to his father.