A 15-year-old girl in Modesto, California, stole a car and ended up driving it into a house in the early morning hours Wednesday, during an attempt to flee from police who had tried to stop her.
Sgt. Derrick Tyler of the Modesto Police Department told the Modesto Bee that the suspect, whose name was not released, presumably due to her age, lost control of the stolen vehicle while attempting to make a turn onto a different street in order to elude police pursuit.
The home into which the suspect crashed is located in the 1300 block of Sunrise Avenue. According to police, one resident of the home was injured by debris created in the crash.
After her arrest, the suspect was taken to juvenile hall, where she was charged with auto theft, hit and run, and evading an officer.
The case serves to highlight the increasing need to improve teen driving safety, and it coincides with the arrival in the nation's capitol of a number of driving safety advocates, accompanied by parents of teens who were killed in car accidents.
The group came to Washington earlier this week to push for the passage of the STANDUP Act, which seeks to better regulate teen driving and more gradually phase in the full rights and privileges of an unrestricted license.
Experts say that driving while many others are in the car and driving late at night are circumstances in which teen drivers are more likely to get into an accident, meaning that targeted restrictions could improve safety records and even auto insurance rates by preventing those situations from even arising until drivers are more experienced.