By Shawn Henry 
Chaos erupted in Niagara Falls Thursday night when a pair of reckless teens plowed a stolen Kia Sportage straight into a cop car—because apparently, joyriding wasn’t thrilling enough without adding vehicular demolition to the mix.
Around 9 p.m., cops spotted the hotwired SUV cruising down Niagara Street near Portage Road. Instead of doing the smart thing (you know, stopping), the kid behind the wheel lost control, smacked a telephone pole at Osborne Court, then flipped and spun like something out of a bad action movie before slamming head-on into a marked cruiser. Talk about a disastrous joyride.
Turns out, the Kia had been swiped earlier—no surprise there—and the crash left both vehicles looking like they’d gone through a trash compactor. Debris littered the street, and responders scrambled to patch up the mess.
The passenger, a 14-year-old girl, got tossed from the wreck like a ragdoll. Lucky for her, the injuries weren’t life-threatening, and she landed at Oishei Children’s Hospital. The driver, another 14-year-old, got hauled to Niagara Falls Memorial, probably wishing he’d chosen a legal hobby.
Miraculously, the cop inside the patrol car walked away without serious harm. Crews shut down chunks of the street while scraping metal off the pavement and piecing together how this whole disaster went down.
Cops are still digging into how these kids ended up behind the wheel of a stolen ride, but one thing’s certain: charges are coming. Because let’s face it—stealing a car and then wrecking it into law enforcement? That’s not exactly a winning life strategy.
It’s just the latest in a string of bone-headed, youth-fueled auto thefts plaguing the area. When do these kids learn that real life isn’t Grand Theft Auto?
John