Two Texas teenagers who fled their home were discovered in Louisiana after driving 145 miles through the night and colliding with a tree.
A 13-year-old girl from Atlanta, Texas, was driving a Chevrolet sedan southbound on US-71 near the Natchitoches-Winn Parish line when she “apparently fell asleep,” according to the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The car then crossed the centre line, exited the road on the left, and drove through a ditch before colliding with a tree. Authorities released a photo of the car, which shows the Chevrolet badly damaged on the front left side, including the missing headlight.
Authorities arrived at the scene around 5 a.m. Tuesday after receiving 911 calls reporting a single-vehicle crash. According to the sheriff’s office, the car contained two 13-year-old girls, neither of whom has been identified.
One suffered minor, non-life-threatening injuries. The injured teen was assessed by emergency medical teams and released, according to authorities.
The 13-year-olds were then transported from the crash site to the sheriff’s office, where they were later released to their families.
It is not immediately clear why they were fleeing or who owned the Chevrolet they were driving.
The Independent has contacted the sheriff’s office for more information.
The case is currently being investigated.
The sheriff’s office issued the following press release: “Deputies and Louisiana State Police continued to investigate why two 13-year-old juveniles from Texas would be travelling in a vehicle at 5:00am in the morning learning they were runaways from Atlanta, Texas.”
