KINGFIELD, Maine -- Two Canadian teenagers stole three vehicles and led law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase in which two U.S. Border Patrol vehicles were damaged and shots were fired before the teens were apprehended, U.S. authorities alleged Tuesday.
Stephen McCausland, of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said a 16-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl were arrested late Monday after abandoning a stolen truck and attempting to flee down a steep embankment next to Route 27.
Const. Darcy Nichol, of the Killaloe detachment of Ontario Provincial Police, said the incident began Sunday night around 9 p.m., when a male youth stole a vehicle -- a gold Chevy Avalanche -- in Eganville, Ont., about 100 kilometres west of Ottawa.
Nichol said the male youth then headed to the Upper Ottawa Valley area where a female youth was picked up and the two then went to Ottawa.
Const. Chuck Benoit of Ottawa police said there was a "small pursuit" early Monday in the city, but it was called off because it was deemed too dangerous. He said the car was later found dumped in an LCBO parking lot in the city.
McCausland said the boy, from the Eganville, Ont., area and the girl, from Pembroke, Ont., abandoned another stolen vehicle in Sherbrooke, Que.
In Maine, the teens were in another stolen car when they drove past the U.S. Border crossing at Coburn Gore, prompting a pursuit that topped 160 kilometres per hour on Route 27 and a collision with two border patrol vehicles, McCausland alleged.
Troopers used spike mats to deflate two tires of the teens' stolen vehicle, a pickup that had managed to elude roadblocks, McCausland said. They eventually abandoned it before jumping over a guardrail and scrambling down the embankment.
The boy was charged with eluding an officer, passing a roadblock and aggravated criminal mischief, said Josh Robbins, an assistant district attorney.
"It is an ongoing investigation. It's possible that more charges will be added," he said.
The girl was hospitalized in Portland to be assessed for possible internal injuries suffered during her tumble down the embankment. She probably won't face charges, Robbins said.
The girl was hospitalized in Portland for assessment of possible internal injuries suffered during her tumble down the embankment, McCausland said.
The attorney general's office dispatched investigators because shots were fired by federal agents after the teens' car collided with two border patrol vehicles.
