Drunk 12-year-old leads New Mexico police on high-speed chase

A drunk 12-year-old girl stole her sleeping grandfather's car and led New Mexico police on a high-speed chase this week, KKTV reports.

Alamogordo authorities said officers were responding to an unrelated incident when the girl's vehicle caught their attention. When cops tried to pull the car over, the 12-year-old sped off with three of her female friends inside. Police then chased the car down U.S. Highway 70 to U.S. Highway 54.

The pre-teen driver reportedly lost control while turning onto Highway 54 and drove into a street sign. She narrowly missed two police cruisers, law enforcement said. At that point, cops surrounded the car and told the girl to exit the vehicle. Bodycam footage released by police shows one officer smashing the driver's window with a baton in an attempt to get her out.

"For young folks to get a hold of a) alcohol, and then b) a vehicle, and then adding them both together ... often it doesn't work out as well as it did in this case,” police chief Brian Peete told KKTV.

The girl, who authorities said is from Tularosa, a small town 12 miles northwest of Alamogordo, allegedly admitted to taking her grandfather's car after he fell asleep, picking up her friends and drinking vodka and hard iced teas.

The driver's father told investigators that he did not know how his daughter got a hold of the beverages since his family did not keep alcohol at their home, according to police tapes.

"If you've got to keep her in jail tonight, if you think it's right, do it," he told one officer.

All four girls in the vehicle were charged with underage drinking. The driver was also charged with driving while intoxicated and leading police on a chase.