PINELLAS PARK, Fla. (WFLA) – Pinellas Park police officers responded to a crash involving a stolen vehicle Tuesday around 5:13 p.m. Three teenagers were inside the vehicle, police said.
The incident occurred at 7200 US 19.
“While en route officers learned that the vehicle involved in the crash had fled from a traffic stop initiated by an off-duty Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputy,” police said. “When the deputy activated his vehicle’s emergency lights, the vehicle fled at a high rate of speed westbound through the Shoppes at Park Place … when it crashed into a light pole. The light pole and the concrete base were destroyed.”
The vehicle’s three occupants fled, according to the Pinellas Park Police Department. Two of the suspects ran across Park Boulevard “into the path of an eastbound vehicle,” police said.
The vehicle traveling eastbound swerved in the 4000 block of Park Boulevard to avoid the suspect and hit a concrete median.
Aviation and K9 units helped police and deputies on the ground search for the the three suspects.
One of the passengers, a 13-year-old male, returned to the scene of the crash after a bystander pursued him, police said. He was taken into custody and treated for minor injuries.
A female 13-year-old suspect was found covered in blood north of the crash. She’s currently in the hospital.
Around 8 p.m. police learned a person at 49th Street and 70th Avenue was complaining about injuries sustained in an accident, officers said. Officers found the person, the 14-year-old suspected driver of the stolen vehicle, according to the department.
The driver was taken into custody, police said. “He was later transported to an area hospital due to being under the influence,” police said.
The two 13-year-old passengers have been charged with grand theft auto. The 14-year-old driver has been charged with grand theft auto, leaving the scene of a crash with injuries, and fleeing to elude law enforcement. This is the driver’s fourth grand theft auto charge since September, police said. He’s also been arrested 22 times since 2014, according to the Pinellas Park Police Department.