Cousins, a Florida community is currently mourning the loss of four teenagers following a high-speed chase with police after a vehicle spun out of control!
According to the NY Post, the incident occurred last month on April 20th as officers were notified that a Honda CRV had been reported stolen. Authorities state that the marked vehicle had been traveling 111 miles per hour.
“We confirmed with the Gainesville Police Department that they still had that car entered as stolen, and the officer waited until he had three backup units with him before he initiated the traffic stop,” Bradford County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Brad Smith to the Main Street Daily News.
“They did start to pull over on the shoulder of the road, but before they came to a complete stop, they accelerated again, and that is when the chase was on.”
Deputies confirmed that they had stopped pursuing the teens in the marked vehicle as they were unable to keep up with them.
“The [Florida] Highway Patrol was, at that point, the only vehicle that could actually keep up with them,” Smith said. “Our vehicles cannot match the speed that they were going, but we did continue one of our units to try and stay as close as they could as a backup unit to FHP until Alachua County’s units were able to catch up to them.”
Florida Highway Patrol reports that some of the vehicle’s occupants, “appeared to be wearing ski masks.”
“The Trooper made intentional contact with the Honda, causing it to decelerate,” said the Highway Patrol within an issued statement.
“The Trooper used the break in speed to perform a Precision Immobilization Technique (PIT maneuver) on the fleeing Honda to stop the threat created by the fleeing suspect. The Honda subsequently rolled over before making contact with a cement pole.”
The PIT maneuver is a tactic used by authorities to stop a fleeing vehicle, ultimately causing the car to turn sideways and steer into it.
Alachua County Fire Rescue team responded to the crash and described the vehicle as being wrapped around a concrete utility pole. They say that it took them nearly two hours to remove the passengers ages 14 through 17 years old from the vehicle.
Sources state that two of the teens were pronounced dead at the scene while two others passed away at a local hospital.
Passengers Jabril Chevers and Lawrence McClendon Jr were identified as Newberry High-school students.
Lawrence was a sophomore and football star whose older brother, Jermaine Godbot was fatally shot and killed in March of this year.
“It’s concerning when you have so many deaths back to back, but all we can do as a community is wrap our arms around each other, love each other, ask ourselves what we need to be doing, and then do it,” says Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe.
“Lawrence was a great kid to be around and have in our program,” said Ed Johnson, Newberry’s head football coach. “As a football player he was competitive, talented and relentless with a knack for making big plays. He will be truly missed by everyone in the Panther football family.”
A GoFundMe account has been launched to assist Jabril and Lawrence’s family with funeral expenses, reports PEOPLE. Officials state that a criminal investigation regarding the tragic incident is underway.
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