2 Texas teens arrested after flight in truck

4/1/2001

Two Texas teenagers were arrested yesterday after fleeing in a stolen pickup truck that had been stopped by Toledo police officers for a traffic infraction. The truck smashed into two vehicles at Airport Highway and Reynolds Road, causing minor injuries to the teenagers and others, police said.

Dawn Rebecca York, 19, of Lorena, Tex., was booked into the Lucas County jail on a felony fleeing and eluding charge pending arraignment in Toledo Municipal Court. Her boyfriend, Jonathon D. Culp, 17, of Waco, Texas, was being held in the Child Study Institute on a charge of delinquency in connection with receiving stolen property, pending a hearing in Lucas County Juvenile Court, Sgt. Paul Hickey said.

The Culp youth, who is believed to have driven the stolen pickup truck from Texas to Toledo, told police he was in the process of being directed to a motel by an acquaintance in a car in front of him about 3:20 a.m. when he was pulled over for a traffic violation, Sergeant Hickey said.

While officers were distracted, Ms. York grabbed keys that had been taken out of the pickup truck. She drove away. The resulting chase ended with the crash involving the two other vehicles, police said.

Ms. York, who is two months pregnant, was briefly admitted for observation to Toledo Hospital before being discharged yesterday afternoon. Mr. Culp was treated in the hospital. None of the people in the other vehicles was admitted, Sergeant Hickey said.