A juvenile is in custody of juvenile authorities following a car chase that reached speeds between 70 and 100 mph as he tried to avoid being caught.

According to Rowan County Sheriff’s Captain Mark McDaniel, on June 10 about 12:15 a.m., deputies were searching in the area of East Ritchie Road for a Kia that was reported stolen. The owner had a tracking device on the car and it showed the car was in that area.

Investigators were able to find the Kia in a wooded area off the dead end portion of East Ritchie, along with two other reportedly stolen Kias, two of which were taken from Rowan County, and one from within the city limits of Salisbury. In addition, they had reports from Salisbury police that a fourth stolen Kia had not yet been recovered.

As investigators were processing that scene, they were notified by a dispatcher that a blue Kia had just run her off the road and was heading their way.

Almost immediately, a blue Kia with two young men inside pulled into the area. Upon spotting the deputies, the driver made a sharp turn, crossing a ditch and nearly hitting a tow truck arriving on the scene. Deputies began to try to stop the Kia.

The pursuit continued on Old Concord Road towards Cabarrus County at excessive speeds, at times up to 100 mph. Deputies tried a PIT maneuver or Precision Immobilization Technique to bring the car to a stop, but the driver of the Kia swerved, hitting the patrol vehicle. The PIT maneuver involves making controlled contact with the back of a car in a pursuit, causing the driver to lose control and spin out.

The chase eventually ended in Cabarrus County at the intersection of Old Concord and Irish Potato roads, when the deputy was able to successfully utilize the PIT maneuver to disable the fleeing vehicle. The deputy’s vehicle was damaged as a result of a tire that came off of the suspect’s vehicle.

The two occupants of the vehicle were both juveniles, and they were taken into custody. The driver refused to be taken to hospital. The passenger chose to go and be checked out, but there were no visible signs of injury.

Deputies contacted The Department of Juvenile Justice seeking a secure custody order for felony fleeing to elude and assault with a deadly weapon on law enforcement for the ramming of the deputy’s vehicle, but that request was denied.

In the state of North Carolina, certain chapter 20, motor vehicle laws are not subject to Raise the Age and are handled in adult court, according to a release from the Sheriff’s Office, so the 16-year-old driver was taken before a magistrate for felony flee to elude arrest.

He was then taken to a juvenile detention facility where he is being held under a $50,000 bond. Because he is a juvenile, his name is not public information at this time.

McDaniel said the case remains under investigation and investigators say other charges are likely to be filed with juvenile court authorities.