12-year-old joyrider who stole grandmother's car to remain in jail

CONROE, Texas – The 12-year-old girl who took her grandmother's car for a joyride last month in Montgomery County will remain in juvenile detention, a judge determined Thursday. 

The county attorney would not say why the judge decided the girl wouldn't be released to the custody of family members. 

It's been more than a month since she stole her grandmother's car and led police on a wild chase through Conroe with her little sister in tow.

[WATCH THE DASH CAM VIDEO HERE]

The chase reached speeds of more than 100 miles per hour, resulting in a laundry list of criminal charges.

The girl has been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, two counts of evading arrest and two counts of deadly conduct for crashing into cars while she was speeding away from police.

Her 5-year-old sister was removed from the care of her mother and grandmother immediately after the incident, according to authorities. The sisters have both been removed from the house, due to the mother and grandmother's substance abuse issues, according to authorities.

Police said when a Conroe Police Department officer spotted the car June 30 in the 12000 block of West Davis around 5:30 p.m., the 12-year-old did not pull over, starting a 35-to-40-mile chase, with her 5-year-old sister in the front passenger seat.

Police said she took her grandmother's car for a joyride.

Channel 2 Investigates learned through a police source that the girl was trying to visit her boyfriend.

 

"The younger girl was terrified. Went right into the arms of our officer when it was over," Montgomery Police Chief Jim Napolitano said.

KPRC 2 obtained the dash cam video of the police pursuit. In the video, the girl drove on the wrong side of the road, the shoulder on the wrong side of the road and barely squeezed between two vehicles stopped in a lane of traffic on the other side.

"The vehicle being pursued hit multiple vehicles along 105 resulting in minor damage and no injuries, thank goodness. The two juveniles were involved and no injuries at that point either," Jim Napolitano, with the Montgomery Police Department, said.

According to a witness, who was driving on Highway 105 with three kids in the car, their vehicle was hit by the girl, and knocked a mirror off the car. The witness then saw the girl driving on the shoulder in the wrong direction of the highway.

"The fastest that I saw was 126," Montgomery County attorney J.D. Lambright said after reviewing dashcam video.

 

The chase ended when police notified General Motor Co.'s OnStar call center and asked that the car a 2014 Chevy Cruz be remotely shut down.

 

The car rolled to a stop near Montgomery High School.