Feb 20, 2018 3 min read

Washington police said the keys to a car reported stolen over the weekend and later abandoned on Railroad Street were found in a vehicle involved in a brief chase Saturday.

Police were on patrol about 12:22 a.m. near Locust and Gibson avenues when they saw a number of women getting out of a vehicle and screaming at three teenage boys or young men inside it.

The vehicle pulled away with the passenger door still open. Police approached the vehicle and could smell a strong odor of marijuana. The driver of the vehicle accelerated rapidly, and the officer activated the emergency lights and siren on his cruiser.

Police said the vehicle fled west on Hallam Avenue and then turned north on Franklin Street. The officer terminated the pursuit because of the speed of the other vehicle and the reckless manner of the driver.

Tracks from the vehicle were found going through several yards on Cort Street before going over an embankment on McKinley Avenue. The officer continued to track debris and fluids from Montgomery Avenue to Duncan Avenue, where the vehicle was found abandoned. A witness reported seeing three men running from the vehicle in the direction of Allison Avenue.

Found inside the vehicle were marijuana blunts and keys to a Volkswagen Jetta that had been reported stolen Friday by Marc Fernandez of Oregon Street.

Fernandez reported a burglary of his home Wednesday, and among the items stolen were the keys to his car. Surveillance from a nearby business showed a thin man wearing dark clothing approaching the car carrying keys.

The car was later found in a parking lot on Railroad. There were no keys in the vehicle. Three teenagers reportedly were seen running from the car.

In another incident, a 2007 Toyota Sienna that had been reported stolen by a West Virginia man Feb. 8 was found in a garage in the 500 block of Duncan. The owner told police he had left the keys in the vehicle while warming it up in the 400 block of East Hallam, and when he came out, the van was gone. That vehicle was one of three reported stolen that day after drivers left them unattended with the keys inside while warming them up.

Police were called to the property on Duncan for a report of damage to a wooden fence and damage to garage doors at the home. The van was discovered inside the garage.

Detectives are investigating to determine if the incidents are connected.