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Teen Deaths Tied To Car Thefts Part Of Disturbing Trend

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
This image from a surveillance video shows the fiery crash Sunday that killed three teens on U.S. 19 in Palm Harbor

On Sunday, three teenage boys accused of stealing cars from a Clearwater dealership died in a high speed crash. This comes in the wake of a growing trend of teen car thefts in Pinellas County.

In 2015, police in Pinellas arrested juveniles 499 times for grand theft auto - more than any other county in Florida.

Zack Sampson and colleagues from the Tampa Bay Times have been following this issue for the past year.

WUSF's Daylina Miller talks to him about the paper's investigation, which included interviews with 16-year-old Deyon Kaigler, one of the teens involved in Sunday's incident.

As WUSF’s multimedia reporter, I produce photos, videos, audiograms, social media content and more to complement our on-air and digital news coverage. It's more important than ever to meet people where they're at.
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