A 13-year-old girl joyride in her mom’s car turned deadly when she allegedly hit and killed two men before trying to flee Escondido police, authorities said Saturday.
According to Fox 5 San Diego, Escondido police said the crash was reported about 11:20 p.m. on Friday at Mission Avenue and Ash Street.
An officer had stopped the car near Mission Avenue and Gamble Street for a traffic violation but didn’t realize the driver was a 13-year-old girl.
“What the officer didn’t know at the time, is that the car was being driven by a 13-year-old girl from Vista who took her mom’s car without her knowing. The girl’s juvenile friend was a passenger in the car,” police Lt. Kevin Toth said.
The girl took off in the car as the officer approached, drove east on Mission, and apparently tried to turn left onto Ash Street, where they apparently lost control of the car.
“They apparently lost control, and their car slid into the planter on the east side of the road near a SDG&E transfer facility,” Toth said.
Once officers caught up to the teen girls and detained them, they discovered the car had struck two homeless men who were sleeping in the bushes, Toth said. One was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other died at a hospital.
Authorities are now trying to identify the two victims. According to police, the girl, whose name was not released, was arrested and subsequently released to her parents.
