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Man Seriously Injured In Sarasota Police Chase

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By ANTHONY CORMIER

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: July 14, 2008

MANATEE COUNTY — A police pursuit that started in Sarasota and ended in Manatee County left a man and a toddler critically injured, authorities say.

The high-speed chase started at 9 p.m. Sunday when two Sarasota officers stopped a vehicle in the 1400 block of 18th Street. A police spokesman would not say exactly why Officers Brent Wagner and Eric Bass pulled over the vehicle.

Capt. Stan Duncan said Officers Brent Wagner and Eric Bass stopped the car because the windows were too heavily tinted.

When the officers got out, Duncan said, the driver, Jermaine Mclean, tried to strike one of them with his car. McLean took off, leading the squad car north on U.S. 41, Duncan said.

The officers lost sight of the car near Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

It reappeared about a minute later on U.S. 41, and police followed it into Manatee County. The car careered sideways off the road near 68th Avenue, crashed into a sign and the driver was ejected.

McLean, 24, was flown to Bayfront Medical Center. Authorities initially reported that McLean had died, but he remained on life support Monday afternoon.

Sometime later, a woman and a child showed up at Manatee Memorial Hospital with serious injuries. The woman, Annjenette Jackson, 21, told police that she and her 19-month old daughter, Kemijiah Keno, were in the car during the pursuit. Detectives do not know whether they were hurt at the crash site or somehow exited the vehicle before that.

The investigation is being handled on two fronts. Sarasota police are reviewing the case to make sure the pursuit was justified, and Manatee sheriff's detectives are investigating the crash.

News Channel 8 Reporter Yolanda Fernandez contributed to this report.

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