Police: Truck stolen from Port Neches crashes in Port Arthur

Published 12:21 am Tuesday, January 26, 2021

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PORT NECHES — The Port Neches Police Department’s response to a call of juveniles pulling on door handles early Monday morning ended in a short pursuit and a wrecked vehicle.

The call came in at approximately 2 a.m. to an area on Dogwood Lane in the Ridgewood Addition.

When officers arrived they saw a Ford F150 truck leaving the area at a high rate of speed and driving erratically, Port Neches Police Chief Paul Lemoine said.

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The truck traveled to Jimmy Johnson Boulevard near Life Church in Port Arthur and wrecked after the driver attempted to cross the concrete median.

Port Arthur Police were also responding to the area of the crash and were setting up a perimeter to search for the occupants of the truck when a Port Arthur officer stopped a car with juveniles inside.

One of the juveniles was wearing distinctive clothing that matched a person seen on a Ring video in the Ridgewood Addition pulling on car door handles, Lemoine said.

The three juveniles were detained and later released to their parents.

Police do not believe they were the suspects in the truck theft.

Lemoine said the reason they were released is they could not be definitively tied to a crime other than possibly a curfew violation.

A witness told Port Neches Police there were seven to eight juveniles in the Ridgewood Addition area pulling door handles.