Nanaimo 13-year-old faces charges after high-speed pursuit and crash

A 13-year-old girl in Nanaimo is facing potential charges after allegedly taking a parent’s vehicle without permission and leading police on a high-speed pursuit.

The incident occurred around 2 a.m. on July 25. A Nanaimo RCMP officer observed the vehicle traveling southbound on Terminal Avenue at 118 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. When the officer attempted a traffic stop, the driver accelerated away. Following the pursuit, the vehicle was reported to have gone off the roadway in central Nanaimo.

Police located the vehicle and arrested the girl without incident. The collision caused damage to the vehicle, which required towing, but no injuries were reported. The youth was taken into custody and later released to a guardian. Nanaimo RCMP operations officer Donovan Tait noted that the combination of extreme speeds and an unlicensed driver created an “extreme risk to everyone using our roads.”