Teen leads cops on high-speed chase, runs into high school to hide

A high-speed chase through Des Moines this morning prompted the lock-down of a high school and left two police cars damaged. Sergeant Greg Westermeyer says it began with a report of a stolen pickup truck. They got the theft report a little after nine this (Wednesday) morning, and at a quarter to ten a patrol officer spotted the car. The cop tried to stop it and the teen driver took off. The officer says at least four times during the chase the suspect was driving the wrong way down one-way streets, and at one point the teenager intentionally came across two lanes to try and hit a patrol vehicle. The car chase ended up at Lincoln High School just south of downtown Des Moines and the Raccoon River. Other reports after the incident said the student had been ordered to stay away from the school because he had a role in a disturbance earlier this week. The chase lasted perhaps 20 minutes, but reached speeds of 65 miles an hour through downtown Des Moines. Sergeant Westemeyer praises the school for the lockdown procedure it had in place and put into action. The officer says they used their protocol to lock down the school, and established that the intrudor was in the gym and pool area. Cops teamed up with school administrators went through a process of elimination, going through and checking all the areas, and found their suspect. The fugitive clearly knew how to blend in with the student body. Sergeant Westemeyer says the teenager shed his outer clothing and got into some gym clothes in an effort to blend in with the students. They had their work cut out for them booking the suspect, while they tried to figure out who he is. The police department spokesman says officers think the suspect went to the school because he was familiar with it, though they couldn’t immediately confirm whether he was a former student there. But Westermeyer say he isn’t right now. “We’re currently trying to identify him. He’s given us several names,” Westermeyer says. He could only say for sure the suspect is a white male in his late teens.