Woman steals truck with no brakes, crashes

July 21, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Keys left in the ashtray of a vehicle proved to be too good to be true for a city woman.

Police said Amber Robertson took a pickup truck Friday after finding the keys in the ashtray, only to crash it into a utility police when police spotted it.

The reason? The brakes were out and she could not stop.

Robertson, 29, of Homewood Avenue, was arraigned in municipal court Monday before Judge Robert Milich on a felony charge of receiving stolen property and possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor, as well as two warrants for missed court appearances on misdemeanor charges of walking in roadways and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Reports said officers in the vice squad working street patrol spotted a pickup truck driven by Robertson driving fast about 7:25 p.m. on West Boston Avenue and it failed to stop at a stop sign.

When officers tried to pull the truck over, the truck slowed down but did not stop until it hit a utility pole in the 500 block of Idora Avenue, reports said. Reports said Robertson told officers she could not stop because the brakes would not work.

A records check showed the truck was reported stolen earlier in the day from a home in the 11000 block of Ivanhoe Avenue. The owner told police the brakes on the truck were out and he left the keys in the ashtray because someone was coming to tow it to a garage to be fixed.

Robertson received the drug-paraphernalia charge when she was arrested because she had a crack pipe in her bra, reports said.