Tampa police chase ends in crash

A man involved in the crash, but not the chase, talks to a police officer. [Kathleen Flynn | Times]

TAMPA -- A Tampa Police Department pursuit of a stolen vehicle this morning ended in a three-car crash near Hillsborough Avenue and 19th Street.

At least four people were taken to hospitals, but none of the injuries appears to be life-threatening, said Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy.

Police arrested three suspects in connection with the high-speed chase.

McElroy said the incident began when an On-Star notification alerted officers to a stolen vehicle at the Kenneth Court Apartments, 5711 Troy Court, in Tampa. Officers who were watching the car tracked it to a gas station on 34th Street and Hillsborough.

The officers tried to use their cars to box in the stolen vehicle, but as two officers approached on foot, the suspect "gunned it, attempting to kill the officers,'' McElroy said.

The officers fired three shots as the suspects drove into a nearby neighborhood, she said. While headed east, the driver and a passenger jumped out of the moving vehicle. The remaining passenger became the driver and tried to ram a sergeant who was pursuing in another car, McElroy said.

The sergeant avoided a collision but ran off the road into a fence. The suspect then drove back onto Hillsborough Avenue, where he lost control, hit a median and caused a three-car wreck, McElroy said.

A wife, husband and toddler were in one of the vehicles; a single driver was in the other.

- Amber Mobley, Times staff writer