LAKELAND, Fla. — A cross-county police chase ended in a multi-vehicle crash that killed one person on Thursday.
Investigators say it started around 9:30 a.m. with a kidnapping call from a woman inside a suspect's car telling the 911 dispatcher she was worried she might be stabbed.
“Our dispatchers believe They heard something to the extent that the passenger, the female passenger, had been stabbed or was stabbed,” Capt. Alfred Van Duyne with the Plant City Police Department said.
Plant City police say the circumstances met their department policy to initiate and continue a pursuit.
The chase made its way from Plant City east along I-4 where officers briefly called off the pursuit, but soon after, spotted the suspect’s white Mercedes again near Lakeland.
As officers reinitiated the pursuit, dispatchers also received word that the woman inside the car had somehow gotten out.
“We were with her. An officer, one of our detectives, and I believe a Lakeland officer with her,” Van Duyne said. “They discerned that she was okay, and we had the correct person who was a victim. And then, the crash had happened.”
The driver continued before colliding with other vehicles at the intersection of Harden Boulevard and Frontage Road. The crash involved six cars in total.
Witnesses say the suspect tried to run off but was tackled by officers.
In all, four people were transported to the hospital. One of them died.
“They were just an unfortunate innocent victim,” Van Duyne said.
The suspect was also injured and taken to the hospital. He now faces several charges stemming from both the initial kidnapping call and the deadly crash.
Investigators say although the call came in as a kidnapping, it appears the incident stemmed from a domestic dispute and that the woman and the driver knew each other.