A 14-year-old is charged with driving the stolen Kia involved in Tuesday’s police chase

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GATES, N.Y. – On Tuesday at 9:20 a.m. Gates Police Officers went to Chili Avenue by Dorstone Road because a KIA was doing donuts in the road then pulled into a driveway. When police pulled in the driveway the KIA backed over a neighbors lawn, jumped a curb and hit a Gates police car on Chili Avenue. 

Officers chased the car, lost it briefly as it drove through a wooden fence, and then found it flipped over in the intersection of Norton and Hollenbeck streets, where the people insider were running away.

GPD, Rochester Police, along wtih New York State Police took two of the supects, including the driver, into to custody.  The driver was a 14-year-old male from Rochester. He was taken to Monroe County Family Court for arraignment.  The second person in custody has been identified as Keyshawn Essig, 22, from Gates. Essig was charged with criminal possession of stolen property and obstruction of governmental administration. He was released by the court because of bail reform.

“You know we did this raise the age a few years ago where we took the right of our judges and our law enforcement to hold 16 and 17-year-olds accountable and we pushed it up to 18 years old and unfortunately that also changed the lower level, the 13, 14, 15 year olds, and we’ve seen a snowball effect. I don’t know if any of the politicians out there can admit, ‘We did something wrong,” said Gates Police Chief Robert Long. “Just seeing it as a citizen, seeing it as a police chief, seeing it as a police officer, we have younger and younger youth committing more and more crimes that are getting more and more dangerous.”

There were no injuries to any civilians or officers. 

Police are still looking for the third suspect.

The KIA in the incident was reported stolen from the City of Rochester around 3 a.m. At that time RPD went to Durgin Street for the report of a stolen car. The 911 caller also reported that the suspects stealing the car left behind another car in street, which RPD found to be another stolen KIA.