17-Year-Old Detention Center Escapee Struck and Killed on Interstate 70

A 17-year-old who escaped from the Juvenile Detention Center in September was killed this morning after being struck by a car on Interstate 70.

The events leading up to the death began around 8:30 this morning when the victim was a passenger in a car being driven by a female headed north on Broadway, near downtown. The two were being followed by police officers conducting "mobile undercover surveillance."

According to Police Chief John Hayden, the pair were "indecisive" about whether to enter the highway or stay on Broadway. The car crashed into an embankment and both the victim and the woman who had been driving the car fled from the police, who pursued the pair on foot. Hayden said that the officers were wearing vests that clearly identified them as police.

The victim and his companion then ran on the highway on-ramp and into traffic on westbound Interstate 70. Hayden said that both the victim and the woman who had been driving the car "dodged in and out of traffic" before the 17-year-old was struck and killed.

Before his escape, the victim had been held in the Juvenile Detention Center for assault in the second degree, tampering with a motor vehicle in the first degree, and escape or attempted escape from custody with a deadly weapon.

According to Jacob Long, the Chief Communications Officer for the 22nd Judicial Circuit Court, ten youths have escaped from the Juvenile Detention Center in three separate instances since September. Four are still at large.

The driver whose car struck the victim was uninjured and cooperating with police.

The woman who had been in the car with the victim fled the scene and is not in custody.