JEDDAH: Police in Laith have arrested the 17-year-old son of an official of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice for being alone with a nonrelated girl in his car, a local Arabic newspaper reported on Thursday.

Highway police arrested the teenager following a chase in which the teenager’s car overturned leaving him injured. He was, subsequently, taken to Laith General Hospital. Police chased the vehicle when the teenager crossed Ghala checkpoint, north of Laith, without stopping. He then lost control of the vehicle while turning and the car overturned.

The girl who was inside the boy’s car tried to flee on foot but was also arrested. The local Arabic newspaper said that the teenager’s father was also present at the time of his arrest.

The father denied that his son was in illegal seclusion and said he would take legal action against the police for causing the accident. The highway police, however, insisted that the teen was alone with the girl inside the car and presented a report to Laith police.