What may have started as a simple case of teen "cruising" took a serious turn near Florala early Wednesday evening when a routine traffic stop escalated into a high speed chase.

"It was a routine traffic stop for speeding on Highway 331 near the rest stop," said Alabama State Trooper James Davis, who was the officer making the stop. "They fled and came down through Florala and through red lights."

According to Davis, the two in the car were juveniles, one male, one female. He said he pursued the car through several red lights and stop signs, finally ending up on a dead end road near Florala High School.

Davis said they drove the car through a barbed wire fence and across a field, to another road behind it. By that time, other law enforcement officials from the Covington County Sheriff's Department and the Florala and Lockhart police departments had arrived to give assistance and backup.

"I met them again coming out of a dirt road," said Davis. "I had an officer blocking the only way out. Whey they saw him, they jumped out and ran through the woods."

Officers searched the area near where the car had stopped on Wood Avenue, using K-9 units as well as flashlights and patrols around the nearby fields, but the two were not found immediately. Davis said the two then went to a local residence and claimed they had been carjacked.

After being charged with numerous traffic violations, the two juveniles were released into the custody of their parents.

According to Davis, the charges include speeding, driving without a driver's license, attempting to elude, running a red light, running a stop sign, and for the passenger, a charge of fleeing the police.