13-year-old felon leads police chase

CARLSBAD, N.M. (KRQE) - I turns out the 13-year-old boy who led police on a wild chase already has quite a rap sheet for such a young age.

And when he led police on that chase, that youngster had a gun and booze.

As Carlsbad police chased down a pickup truck early Thursday morning, they didn't know who was behind the wheel.

"He went through several residential neighborhoods, some commercial areas, reached speeds up to 50 mph," said Lt. Jennifer Moyers of the Carlsbad Police Department.

Police said the driver was Christian Cabezuela, 13.

When police were called to the area of Paisano and Garden near Carlsbad High School, residents said they saw two people looking into cars and trying to break in to them. That's when officers spotted a silver Ford pickup truck.

"The officers attempted to stop the vehicle," Moyers said.  "When they did, the vehicle actually pulled over.

"Then one of the officers approached the vehicle and at that point the vehicle sped away."

Police said the kid sped through at least 10 stop signs and the Sonic drive-in parking lo, ignoring police sirens all the way.

As Cabezuela came around a corner near Georgia and Northeast First Street, police said he crashed his truck into an irrigation canal.

At that point police said Cabezuela still refused to get out of the truck, and officers had to pull him out of the window.

"A 13-year-old kid is just not an experienced driver, and driving at those speeds in residential neighborhoods, it's just extremely fortunate that nobody got hurt," Moyers said.

Cabezuela was taken into custody. A bottle of liquor was found in the truck along with a marijuana pipe and a gun, police said.

The boy's criminal past includes an arrest at age 12 for car theft and a burglary arrest in January in Hobbs.  He also had an outstanding arrest warrant issued in Lea County for being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Neither the truck nor the gun have been reported stolen, but police are still trying to contract the trucks owner, possibly a relative of Cabequela.