The Summit County Sheriff’s Office has reported a few interesting recent cases where juvenile misbehavior kept them busy.
Deputies got a call on Aug. 21 from a teen wilderness therapy program being held at Rockport State Park. They reported that two juveniles ran away from the program the previous night. It was suspected that they had stolen a marked vehicle from the state Division of Natural Resources parked at the marina.
The vehicle was listed on the National Crime Information Center. Deputies later heard that the suspects tried to use the vehicle’s gas card at a Smith’s in Salt Lake but were unsuccessful. One of the juveniles was a 16-year-old Salt Lake boy. Officers learned that the suspects went to his home, grabbed some items, and left.
According to Sheriff’s Lt. Andrew Wright, officers later learned that the juveniles, and the state vehicle, were found in Coppell, Texas, the residence of the other youth, a 17-year-old boy, 22 miles away from Dallas. The Salt Lake boy turned himself in to law enforcement there. The Texas boy was found at his home.
In another case, an injury accident occurred on a road in Promontory after the teenage driver reportedly tried to show off a vehicle safety device to his friends.
The accident occurred on Aug. 17, at about 10:30 p.m. where deputies found a vehicle had gone off the Painted Valley Path road near the golf course and rolled several times.
The driver was a 15-year-old male from Park City, and two friends also 15 years old were with him.
Lt. Wright said at that age, the youth legally can’t have passengers when he’s driving, unless they are licensed adults.
The passengers reported they were traveling too fast.
Lt. Wright said the driver was trying to demonstrate the ‘lane-departure-assist” option on the car, a feature that uses sensors to keep the car in its lane. If the vehicle strays off course, the driver will be alerted by a vibrating seat, or an alarm, and the steering wheel will automatically keep the car inside the lane.
Lt. Wright said it’s not known why the vehicle left the road.
The driver was flown and the passengers were taken by ambulance to hospitals in Salt Lake.
Finally, on Aug. 28, officers heard about a case of kids being kids on Newpark Boulevard. One of them, unfortunately, had bad aim. A 13-year-old Park City boy threw a rock to get the attention of his friends. It instead broke a large window at the bus stop. The boy, located by officers, admitted what he did and was released to his mother.
