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WEST VALLEY CITY — Three juveniles who police believe robbed a smoke shop early Wednesday were arrested following a short pursuit.
An officer spotted several juveniles acting suspiciously in a vehicle early Wednesday, said West Valley Police Sgt. Mike Powell. The officer was unable to catch up with the vehicle to pull it over.
But a short time later, just before 4 a.m., he spotted the same vehicle in front of City Smoke Shop, 2987 W. 3500 South. The business had just been burglarized. Detectives would later recover about $8,000 worth of stolen merchandise from the store, Powell said.
The car sped away when the occupants saw the officer. A short chase ensued and ended when the driver failed to negotiate a turn at 3650 S. 3600 West and crashed into a sign. The three juveniles got out of the car and ran onto the property of nearby Granger High School, Powell said.
Several officers were able to quickly chase down and arrest the juveniles. The vehicle the youths were in turned out to be stolen earlier in Taylorsville, but the owner hadn't realized yet that it was gone.
Powell said detectives are investigating whether the trio could be linked to any other recent burglaries in the area.
The City Smoke Shop's owner, Sabah Alessaw, said this was the second time his store has been burglarized in the last two weeks. "I just can't believe things like that happen in a week and a half. It happened again, and we can't afford to stay in business to do that," he said.
Alessaw installed an alarm and surveillance system after the last burglary.
Written byPat Reavy with contributions from Randall Jeppesen.
