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Law enforcement officers with the Locust Police Department became involved in a multi-county chase shortly before 5:30 a.m. Tuesday, according to a press release from the department.

Locust police officers became involved in a pursuit with a suspect vehicle inside the city limits that resulted in the crash of a vehicle inside Charlotte.

It began with a third-party call of a potential stolen vehicle traveling toward Locust. Additional information received stated a missing or endangered 17-year-old child was also in the vehicle. Locust officers found the vehicle and saw it run a red light at the Main/Central intersection. Officers attempted to initiate a routine traffic stop of the vehicle, but the vehicle did not comply and began to flee at a high rate of speed, according to police. A stop stick deployment inside city limits was attempted.

A Locust officer was able to continue to pursue the vehicle on Albemarle Road into Charlotte. Once in Charlotte in the area of Faulconbridge Road approximately 17 miles from the start of the pursuit, the suspect vehicle attempted to elude by passing around vehicles but lost control and struck a tree off the roadway.

It was confirmed the juvenile was in the vehicle and had been officially reported missing in Moore County. They suffered minor injuries and were expected to be released from a medical facility Tuesday morning. The driver of the vehicle who is believed to be the non-custodial biological father of the juvenile suffered serious injuries in the crash and was listed in critical condition.

The name of the juvenile will not be released and the name of the driver will not be released at this time, police said. Charges against the driver for felony flee to elude along with any other applicable charges will be pursued.

CMPD’s crash investigation unit is conducting an independent investigation into the traffic crash.