NJ police chief reacts angrily to law after teen steals cop car

🚨Police say the teen stole one of their vehicles

🚨Police had ben investigating a stolen passenger car

🚨The chief criticised current laws

A teen who stole a police vehicle from a Secaucus gas station early Monday morning led police on a 15-mile high-speed chase before abandoning it.

Secaucus Police Chief Dennis Miller said an officer responded to the Sunoco station on Route 3 around 2:40 a.m. after a Jeep Wrangler reported stolen from Jersey City was spotted.

The driver, a 15-year-old Jersey City male, rammed the Jeep into two occupied Secaucus police vehicles and ran away.

Police caught a 16-year-old male passenger and the driver but another 16-year-old got into one of the police vehicles and drove off, police said.

The teen led police on a pursuit through Jersey City, Kearny and Newark before officers lost sight of it, according to Miller. ABC 7 Eyewitness News reported the chase reached speeds of 100 mph.

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Repeat offender

The vehicle was found abandoned at the intersection of Bond Street and West Mertz Avenue in Hillside.

Miller said the teen had just been released last from the electronic bracelet program from a previous arrest. The frustrated police chief believes that teens become repeat offenders because they have no fear of repercussions.

"It needs to be recognized that our juvenile justice system needs to be reformed to hold juveniles accountable or this recidivism will continue. We must acknowledge that not every juvenile can be rehabilitated and must give prosecutors the tools needed to prosecute these criminals or they will continue to plague our communities," Miller said in a written statement.

Miller said anyone with information about the teen should call 201-330-2052.

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