Vehicle pursuit in Sayre ends with charge of attempted homicide for juvenile

BY THE REVIEW)
Published: December 10, 2009

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A 16-year-old juvenile was arrested by Sayre police after a vehicle pursuit early Wednesday morning in Sayre, according to a press release from the Sayre Borough Police Department.

The juvenile has been charged with criminal attempted homicide of a police officer, aggravated assault on a police officer, simple assault and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, along with numerous traffic violations associated with the pursuit, police said.

At around 2:18 a.m. Wednesday, a Sayre police officer attempted to make a traffic stop on Lewis Street in Sayre after the suspect vehicle allegedly drove through a stop sign, police said. Officers then pursued the vehicle through the borough until it was pinned down by two Sayre police vehicles behind the old Sayre Lingerie Building, according to the release. As officers approached the vehicle, the driver backed up and struck a patrol car, then attempted to pull away from the officers, police said. As the vehicle pulled forward, it struck one of the officers and then continued to pull away as another officer broke out the driver's window of the vehicle, police said.

The officer who had been struck by the vehicle then reached into the vehicle, grabbing at the driver as the vehicle began to speed away, police said. The officer, then being dragged by the car, was forced to draw and fire his service weapon into the vehicle, lodging a bullet in the car's dash, police said. The officer was then thrown free of the vehicle, which nearly ran over the officer as it drove off, police said.

Officers from Athens Borough, Athens Township and South Waverly Borough continued to pursue the vehicle, according to the press release, until it stalled on Hugh Street in Athens Borough and two juvenile males were taken into custody. The juvenile passenger was questioned and released, while the driver was arrested and charged, according to police.

The injured officer was treated at the Robert Packer Hospital Emergency Department and released with minor injuries, the release stated.

The Sayre Police Department did not release the names of the officers involved in this incident, and efforts by the Review on Wednesday to reach the Sayre Borough Police Chief Kevin Guinane were unsuccessful.

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remember this is a newspaper, not a court document that u r reading. Take a deep breath and lets get all the info, not a snipit.
Reactions in this event was at the least not well thought out, so having said that some of the visceral actions here are just that.

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Sue in Sayre, 12/12/09 6:06

This is an extremely sad situation. I can't beleive the comments here blaming the parents, the police and the kid involved without knowing any of the details. It sounds like ther could have been a police officer killed or a kid killed which would have been horrible. If you feel strongly about pointing the finger of blame at someone you ought to al least have the guts to sign your name

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noname father, 12/11/09 6:06

First,Dan R....I, too, am a bleeding heart liberal..what would my political views have to do with this?

However, if this had been an adult who drug a police officer with a car everyone would be up in arms. The LEO could have been killed just as easily as only having scrapes.

I have teenagers and my son would have just pulled over. I was pulled over at 2am when I was a teenager. We didn't run from the police and almost kill one.

And...how are the police supposed to know that it was "only a kid" in the car? Of course he pulled his gun! What was he supposed to do? Offer the kid a lollipop while he was being dragged by the car? Threats have to be taken seriously every time.

Are the parents to blame? Possibly. Maybe they are crappy parents and don't care where their kid is at 2am. But some great parents will still end up with bad kids, or kids who do something bad. Maybe the kid lied to his parents and they thought he was somewhere else. Maybe he's just a terrible kid and always will be. Who knows? Certainly not 99.9% of the people posting here, including me. It's pretty easy to be a Monday Night Quarterback when you don't have all the facts.

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Bleeding Heart Liberal, 12/11/09 5:44

After reading these comments, it surprises me that only a select few individuals were concerned for the safety of the officers involved. The juvenile is to blame, used a deadly weapon to assault the officers (a vehicle), and the officer was using his best judgment when he chose to discharge his weapon. They ARE trained for this kind of situation, and he acted accordingly.

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B.C. Law Enforcement, 12/11/09 3:57

To Just Wondering,candycane,
Are you both serious, why don't we place the blame for this one on the right person. The criminal who's actions caused this event to happen.
- The criminal failed to stop,the criminal used his vehicle as a deadly weapon at least three times,
- The criminal back into a police vehicle
- The criminal hit an officer
- The criminal failed to stop dragging the officer.

The officer fearing for his life used his weapon. Sounds to me that anyone can see who to blame it's called personal responsibility

What is accepting personal responsibility?

- Acknowledging that you are solely responsible for the choices in your life.
- Accepting that you are responsible for what you choose to feel or think or do.
- Accepting that you cannot blame others for the choices you have made.
-Tearing down the mask of defense or rationale for why others are responsible for who you are, what has happened to you and what you are bound to become.

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joejoe taxpayer, 12/11/09 12:17

The responsibility for this juvenile's actions falls solely on the shoulders of his parents. I don't know of any tough love parents in their right mind that would allow a 16 year old to be out driving around at 2:00 am in the morning. And to you liberal bleeding hearts like "Candycane", don't even think of faulting our local police force for doing their job. This kid obviously needs a really good ass whomping for his multiple acts of stupidity, and his parents need to be held accountable for not being in control of their child.

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Dan R., 12/11/09 9:15

I feel like I touched off a fire-storm here, or fell into a vat of ignorance. Is there anybody out there who doesn't understand the link between violence in media (especially video games), and violent behavior in children? I mean this research has been going on for more than forty years, and the results and correlations are inescapable and getting stronger all the time. Do you also believe there's no link between smoking and cancer? I am not discounting parental responsibility, and I probably was wrong to specify a single video game by name, but the newspapers description of the incident seemed to closely parallel that particular game. Yes, violent video games DO cause increased violent behavior in children, with younger children being more affected than older children. The games have recommended age restrictions for a reason. It doesn't require much effort to find hundreds of articles outlining solid research to prove the link between violent media and violence committed. Try the American Psychological Association's online report on violent video games; myths, facts, and unanswered questions. I defy anyone to find a solid research study disproving the link between exposure to violent media and resultant violent behavior. How anyone could be unaware of this information after we've been inundated by it for so many years just astounds me.

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all too common, 12/11/09 8:42

It had nothing to do with video games. I know the kid

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Athens Student, 12/11/09 2:55

The Boy driving made a big MISTAKE! lET IT GO ! 4 gOD'S SAKE HAVEN'T ANYONE euer made the wrong choice before?
cop got a bandaid what about the KID?
Some Counseling' fines' drivers lcs. sup.' trust me HEI'LL never do ut again!

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Stan Brennan, 12/11/09 2:16

"Juvinile with no weapon. Makes you wonder why the officer grabbed his gun instead of pepper spray or tazer." ~Wondering Why

A car IS a weapon. Especially as it was being used in this case.

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Gert, 12/10/09 7:57

This kid is an outstanding wrestler at Athens High School, if he gets out lets see if the school shuns this and allows him to wrestle. My bet is he will be in a detention center for 3-6 months anyway. Why was he out of the house on a snowy night at 2am? He should be lucky he was not shot dead with all the police officer shootings of late, the boy was darn lucky. Let him sit in the correction facility for a long period and see if it clears his mind.

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wasted talent, 12/10/09 7:22

Candycane - You sound like a parent - the kind that doesn't believe in spanking! You are blaming the officer for firing a shot "for no reason"? The punk lead the police on a high speed chase, struck a police cruiser,struck an officer and then proceeded to drag the officer that he just tried to KILL (no one hits someone with a car for any other reason than to KILL them - if you believe otherwise than you are a fool) and you have the NERVE to blame the officer?!?! He used restraint in that he only fired into the dash and not the delinquent's head! Good job to all the officer's involved - glad you're all OK. I hope the creep spends time behind bars!

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Troy Resident, 12/10/09 6:51

Maybe the reason you don't see more incidents like this is because video games aren't to blame for such nonsense. Blame a video game...seriously? You're telling me a video game caused a 16 year-old to lose reality and think there know consequences for actions like this? Give me a break. There's always a scapegoat. If it's not music, it's movies. If it's not movies, it's video games. If it's not video games, it's the internet. Give me a break.

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No all that common, 12/10/09 3:19

Are you serious? Your first reaction after reading this is to blame a video game!? Kids become desensitized after playing Grand Theft Auto? What evidence of this do you have, other than liberal speculation? That defense was attempted once in a homicide case, without success. Why? BECAUSE ITS RIDICULOUS. Blame the criminal. Blame the parents. Blame the ACLU for giving our worst citizens the freedom to be violent. But to blame a video game is just plain silly.

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Paul, 12/10/09 3:15

Thank god everyone is safe! And really, are we blaming this on video games? How about poor parental supervision?

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Secret, 12/10/09 1:57

All too Common- I've been playing GTA for years now and have never had the urge to break any laws. Give me a break. This has to do with parenting. Teaching kids right and wrong and to accept responsibility. Not to mention there is no excuse for two 16 year olds to be out on the roads at 2 am. The parents or parent will be answering some questions.

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GTA Guy, 12/10/09 1:13

AT All Too Common: Well ... doesn't the fact that your "facts" don't add up -- kinda indicates that you don't know what you're talking about?? I mean, if what you wrote is true -- then why are you surprised it's not higher?? right?? Here you are blaming parents and video games on an incident -- and you have NO CLUE if the kid played the game. You wrote: "It surprisie me we don't see more incidents like this." WHY?? Has this not ever happened before Grand Theft Auto?? Come on people. Use some commonsense when posting.

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#__#, 12/10/09 11:58

All too common, is obviously not all too familiar with raising children. What teenage boy does not have a gaming system these days? Grand Theft Auto is a pretty far reach from what he was probably trying to do. Because they own a game doesn't make the parents accountable for anything at all, especially when the parents had not allowed him to take the car and had no idea that it was happening. At 16 I would say that he knew he made a mistake and started to panic. The juvenile wasn't the one trying to kill anyone, the one firing off shots for no reason because he wasn't smart enough to let go of the car was the one I feel was in the wrong. Whats wrong with a tazer gun?? Lets shoot a 16 year old kid for making a mistake. I feel that the police departments around here are not trained to handle situations like this, so when something comes up they make rash decisions and then cover it up with "self defense".

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candycane, 12/10/09 11:52

Juvinile with no weapon. Makes you wonder why the officer grabbed his gun instead of pepper spray or tazer.

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Just Wondering, 12/10/09 11:08

My guess is the driver has spent many hours playing the vidoe game "Grand Theft Auto". The purpose of the game is to kill cops and steal cars. After kids play games like this for a while they become desensitized to the violence and have a hard time separating the fantasy from reality. Parents who allow kids to play games that are not intended for kids should be held accountable. It surprisie me we don't see more incidents like this.

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all too common, 12/10/09 9:29

Vehicle pursuit in Sayre ends with charge of attempted homicide for juvenile

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