BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. – A stolen SUV crashed Wednesday morning while fleeing from police in the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 in Broward County.
Fort Lauderdale police said they took five juveniles, all under the age of 18, into custody.
Sky 10 was above the scene shortly after 8 a.m. as the Infiniti QX60 was traveling at a high rate of speed just before it clipped two vehicles, causing the Infiniti to spin out of control and end up on its roof.
Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman Casey Liening confirmed that the chase started after officers were called just before 7 a.m. to a home burglary in the 2200 block of Northeast 28th Avenue. According to police, the suspects were in the Infiniti as they tried to steal another car from a home’s garage.
Liening said the description of the vehicle the suspects were in was broadcast by dispatch and officers located the vehicle a short time later and tried to pull over the driver.
But Liening said the driver refused to stop, leading to the chase.
She said it was later confirmed that the SUV had been stolen out of Miami-Dade County.
“Officers requested the assistance of the BSO Aviation Unit and once they arrived on scene, FLPD units pulled back and let the air unit take the lead in following the vehicle,” Liening said in an email.
Bicyclist Struck
According to Liening, the SUV continued driving erratically and struck a bicyclist at the intersection of Sistrunk Boulevard and Northwest 27th Avenue. The driver did not stop to render aid, Liening said.
“A blue car came around. I can hear all the cop cars. It came around and it hit him,” Shainnia Stroder, who witnessed the crash, said. “Some of the cops had stopped when he fell and rolled on the ground.”
The bicyclist was identified as 34-year-old Michael Evans. Police said he was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
“He has multiple fractures on his neck and spine, a laceration on his head and ear that he needed morphine for, and now they’re looking at his knees that started to swell,” said Michelle Evans, Michael’s mother.
She said he has a long road to recovery.
Michelle Evans is now left with mixed emotions about how everything went down.
“I’m glad they got the guys, but I really think it was the wrong place, wrong time for the police to do a high speed chase,” she said.
A GoFundMe page was started to help Evans with his medical expenses. You can visit the page by clicking here.
Stroder said police told her that the driver will also be charged with fleeing the scene of a crash.
Officers and the BSO’s helicopter continued to follow the SUV as it traveled onto I-95 south, at which time assistance from the Florida Highway Patrol was requested.
Sky 10 was above the scene as the chase ended in a crash on I-95 at Pembroke Road, where the SUV rolled over and struck multiple other vehicles.
Two people were immediately apprehended after coming out of the back windshield, which had been smashed during the collision.
Officers were seen appearing to kick out the windows of the SUV and three more people were pulled out.
Liening said all five suspects are juveniles. She said they were taken to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Only one remained hospitalized as of Wednesday afternoon and that person is in serious condition.
Video taken from Sky 10 shows a woman jumping out of her vehicle as it was heading in the wrong direction before it struck a trooper’s vehicle.
She fell to the ground before re-entering her vehicle.
One victim, identified as Sharon Gleuck, told Local 10 News that her blue Honda CRV was struck by the stolen vehicle.
Glueck said she was traumatized and shaken.
“I was on the way down to work in Miami Shores when I was hit by a car, maybe a few cars, I don’t know,” Glueck told Local 10 News. “I spun around and next thing I know, when I stopped, I was next to a police car and they had their guns drawn on I saw one teenager, and they told me to move and get out of the car and get away from the scene,” she said.
“I would say the guns being drawn was scarier than the accident,” Glueck said.
The rollover crash shut down the southbound lanes of I-95 for hours as law enforcement investigated the scene. The road reopened just before noon Wednesday.
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department is investigating the burglary and attempted theft of a car in their city, while FHP is investigating the crash on I-95.
“We were extremely lucky that there were no more injuries,” Lt. Yanko Reyes of the Florida Highway Patrol said.
REPLAY: Sky 10 over the scene of police chase that ends on I-95 in Broward County.