The license plate wasn't clearly visible when the silver Mercedes passed a Tarpon Springs police officer just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, so on went the flashing lights and siren.
Instead of stopping for the officer, however, the female driver of the Mercedes gunned it, police officials say.
She went into the median near Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on U.S. 19, changing directions and speeding up U.S. 19 north "at a high rate of speed," said Lt. Barbara Templeton of the police department.
Since the speed quickly became excessive, the chase was called off, she said. But as the officer was slowing down near the Pinellas-Pasco line, he saw debris suddenly fly over the road up ahead, Templeton said.
When the Mercedes driver got to Flora Avenue in Holiday she ran a red light, smashing into another vehicle that had just come into the intersection on Flora Avenue, a Florida High Patrol report states.
The Mercedes spun counterclockwise and then backward on U.S. 19, finally stopping facing south in the center northbound lane.
The second vehicle also spun counterclockwise and stopped facing east in the middle of the intersection, the report states. Two vehicles stopped at Flora were hit.
After that impact, the tailgate of the second vehicle broke loose, hitting a fifth car. Debris from the second vehicle sprayed the other vehicles and hit a pedestrian on the head, the report states.
Names of those involved have not yet been released. One person - it's not known who yet - was flown by medical helicopter to an area trauma center.
Templeton said officials plan on charging the driver of the Mercedes with driving with a suspended or revoked license, aggravated fleeing and eluding, and obscuring a tag.
Her name hasn't been released. The vehicle she was driving was registered to someone else, Templeton said.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement
Advertisement