Suspect who bolted from stolen car after crash taken into custody

PEORIA, Ariz. - Officials say the fourth and final person believed to have been in a stolen car that crashed after speeding on a Phoenix-area freeway has been apprehended in a Peoria neighborhood.

Department of Public Safety officials say on Tuesday morning, a trooper tried to pull over a Chevrolet Camaro on southbound State Route 101 at Thunderbird Avenue. Speeds were clocked at 91 miles per hour in a 65 miles per hour zone.

The Camaro exited the freeway at Peoria Avenue and collided with a vehicle that had a mother and small child inside.

The driver of the stolen vehicle was on the run for a couple of hours. During that time, DPS troopers canvassed the area and put a neighborhood on lockdown. Residents were told to stay indoors and lock their homes.

Troopers later spotted the suspect in the backyard of a house near 92nd Avenue and Gold Dust. The owner wasn't home at the time.

According to DPS' Bart Graves, there were four suspects inside the stolen car. Three suspects, who are juveniles, remained in the car and are in custody.

Graves says nobody was seriously injured in this entire ordeal.

"It is a miracle, two miracles that the collision didn't occur on the freeway and nobody else was hurt. Unfortunately, there was a collision here with an innocent party at the intersection of the 101 and Peoria and those small children were not hurt, along with their mother.. they were taken to a hospital, treated for their minor injuries.. so I think we got a break in both cases today and these people are behind bars and off the streets."

A Peoria Unified School District school bus yard is near the crash site, so police searched all the school buses before they left the yard. District spokeswoman Danielle Airey says police have given school officials the all-clear to operate the buses.

Graves says the vehicle was stolen in Phoenix on Monday.

No names have been released in this case. The suspect and the juveniles could face possible charges, including armed robbery, felony flight, leaving the scene of an accident and aggravated assault.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.