Tireless truck joyrider gouges Ranchos roads

Early Sunday morning Douglas County deputies were dispatched to the 1200 block of Manhattan Drive where a blue Dodge pickup missing its left rear tire appeared to have rolled over, crushing the roof of another car.

According to the sheriff's report, the truck was not occupied, but deputies spotted several people running away from the accident at 5 a.m.

Deputies were able to catch up with one of them, who'd suffered a hip injury in the accident and was identified as the passenger of the truck.

The man said someone he didn't know asked if he would accompany him to get cigarettes.

He told deputies that while he was riding in the pickup, the driver was drifting around turns and travelling at high speed. The truck rolled about four times.

Deputies asked the man if he knew the truck was missing a tire, which he confirmed.

A deputy followed the gouges left in the asphalt from the tireless truck back to the Tillman Lane 7-Eleven, where he spoke to the clerk, who confirmed two men in a blue pickup missing a tire came in at 5 a.m., bought a pack of cigarettes and left.

The deputy then followed the gouge along Tillman until he reached Dayspring Christian Academy, where the pickup failed to make the turn from Topaz Lane onto Tillman and broke through the academy's fence and landed into the parking lot. The deputy continued to follow the gouge east on Topaz, south on Monument Peak Drive and onto Dresslerville and Long Valley roads.

At that point, the deputy received word that an injured man, who was possibly the pickup's driver, had walked into Carson Valley Medical Center.

At first the man said he was in a fight with a gang member. But once deputies confronted him with potential evidence that he was driving pickup, the 17-year-old admitted the tire blew out while he was "romping" at the sand pits.

Deputies took a blood sample and then the teenager was taken into custody by juvenile probation officers.

The owner of the truck said the teen, who was living at their home, did not have permission to drive the vehicle.