A trooper crashed into a fence while trying to pursue a driver in a stolen SUV on Tuesday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
A trooper crashed into a fence while trying to pursue a driver in a stolen SUV on Tuesday, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Authorities saw the stolen Acura SUV on NW 107th Avenue in the area of W Flagler Street.
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When they tried to stop it, the driver took off and later crashed into a car on 92nd Avenue.
The trooper tried a PIT maneuver–a move that involves bumping the fleeing car to force it to turn 180 degrees, stall and stop–but was unsuccessful.
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The SUV then kept going west on Flagler Street and turned north onto NW 114th Avenue.
Surveillance video shows a trooper, with sirens activated, in hot pursuit of the vehicle. The trooper tried to turn behind the SUV, but lost control and crashed into a fence in Sweetwater, FHP said.
Footage from the scene showed the cruiser with front-end damage and one of its tires twisted. The trooper was not hurt.
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Authorities found the Acura SUV abandoned on NW 7th Street in the area of NW 109th Avenue.
The driver has still not been caught.
NBC6 spoke to an innocent driver believed to be the one struck by the stolen Acura on 92nd Avenue.
He said he was driving when he saw a white car speed up behind him and hit him.
"It wasn't like a nasty hit – he was stopped because everyone stopped, and then once the cop got close, he knew he had no other choice but to ram into me and push me out of the way, so he got the opening to make the U-turn," the driver said.
That driver, who did not want to be identified, will be OK and his car has some minor bumper damage.
"I just wanted to pick up some Freon for my car. Now I have to pick up a new bumper," the victim said.
