The 16-year-old son of a U.S. military civilian employee was arrested last week after allegedly crashing a stolen car and fleeing into an apartment building, Japanese police said.

The unnamed teenager, of Okinawa city, was taken into custody Wednesday on suspicion of trespassing into the stairwell of the apartment building at 1:04 p.m. that day, a spokesman with Okinawa Prefectural Police said by phone Monday.

The case was forwarded to the Naha Public Prosecutors Office on Friday, according to a spokesman with the city’s police station.

The teenager is the son of an employee of an unspecified branch of the U.S. military, the city police spokesman said by phone Monday.

Okinawa city police pursued the youth after he was seen driving a stolen vehicle without a license plate, the spokesman said. After a chase of a few minutes, he crashed the vehicle into the wall of another building and fled on foot, the spokesman said.

Police said no alcohol was involved in the incident. The teen was still in city police custody Monday morning, the spokesman added.

He declined to provide additional information, citing the ongoing investigation. Some Japanese government officials may speak to the press only on the condition of anonymity.

The teenager’s parents do not work for the U.S. Navy, spokeswoman Candice Barber said in an email Monday.

U.S. Army Garrison Okinawa at Torii Station did not respond to inquiries Monday. The Marine Corps on Okinawa and the 18th Wing at Kadena Air Base acknowledged questions that day but did not immediately provide responses.

Prosecutors, not police, decide formal charges under the Japanese justice system. (Vecteezy)