Teenager caught after chase

In a span of seconds, Rick Novotny debated whether he should make an open-field tackle on the teenager running his way.

Novotny had just arrived at Holy Cross Elementary School on Thursday afternoon to pick up his daughter Emma, a sixth-grader. He saw police officers in the area.

Lots of police.

They were chasing an 18-year-old man wanted in connection with a carjacking.

The pursuit through midtown Omaha neighborhoods began shortly before 3 p.m., led to the lockdown of three schools and ended peacefully after about 45 minutes.

Novotny heard shouting as the teen, holding a backpack, continued running in his direction.

“Get on the ground! Police! Police!”

That was enough for Novotny to step aside and let the young man speed by. He saw several officers, including one with a police dog.

“He was moving,” Novotny said of the teenager. “He was outrunning the cop.”

But he couldn't outrun all of them. Police eventually caught him just south of Holy Cross School, which is at 48th Street and Woolworth Avenue.

During the pursuit, as police combed the neighborhood, three schools went into lockdown: Holy Cross; Mercy High School, 1501 S. 48th St.; and Beals Elementary School, 1720 S. 48th St.

Julie Prusa, Holy Cross' first-year principal, made the decision to lock down even before police asked her.

“I just had an instinct,” she said.

Prusa was a religion teacher at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Norfolk, Neb., in September 2002, when the attempted robbery of a U.S. Bank branch there left five people dead.

She said she acted almost immediately after a mother came in and said there were four police cars in the neighborhood.

Prusa ordered the lockdown at 3:10 p.m. Dismissal typically is 3:15 p.m.

Soon after, a police officer came in and said she should take precautions to secure the school. They were already under way.

Prusa said Holy Cross students were dismissed about 3:50 p.m. after the same officer told her that the teenager had been apprehended.

The school fielded calls from several parents but wasn't able to let all families know what was going on, Prusa said.

“We're just grateful everything turned out OK,” she said.

Police believe the teenager was the person who carjacked a Hyundai Sonata on Aug. 27 in the area of 115th and Burke Streets. The man who stole the car had been armed.

Officer Michael Pecha, a police spokesman, said officers spotted the Sonata Thursday near 50th and Corby Streets and waited for several hours for someone to approach the car.

Someone did walk out to the car, and officers tried to apprehend him, but the suspect fled in the vehicle.

A vehicle pursuit ensued, ending at Omaha Fire Station No. 34 near 48th and Mayberry Streets. The pursuit continued from there on foot and concluded about six blocks south on the Holy Cross campus.

Police have not released the teenager's name. He was booked on suspicion of robbery, use of a weapon to commit a felony and flight to avoid arrest.

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