FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police arrested four people, including a juvenile, after a brief pursuit ended in a crash in a Fort Lauderdale neighborhood.
According to Fort Lauderdale Police, officers were looking for a vehicle involved in a felony when they spotted the stolen dark gray 2019 Jeep Cherokee along the 3100 block of Davie Boulevard, Thursday afternoon.
Detectives said officers attempted to pull over the Jeep, but the driver kept going.
Witnesses said the Jeep slammed into a white car at the intersection of Southwest Third Street and 27th Terrace.
A woman who identified herself as Patricia said she saw the Jeep zoom past her moments before impact.
“Coming up, I heard this car, like, ‘urrrrrrr,’ and then they start like, ‘skrrr, skrrr,’ ’cause it almost hit my car,” said Patricia, who didn’t want to show her face on camera, “so, it went around my car, the car that’s turned over came around my car, and then the white car that was hit, it was kind of to the stop sign. When it got to the stop sign, it went to turn left; as the car turned left, the car that’s turned over rammed into it.”
The Jeep rolled twice before it hit the side of a house.
“This is freaky, ’cause I’ve never seen a car like flip, flip,” said Patricia.
After being struck, the white car slammed into two other cars before stopping.
Officers who were right on the tail of the Jeep immediately surrounded it.
“I saw these cars swarming, undercover cars, police cars, and then I saw a car turned over in the yard next door over there,” said a witness.
Surveillance video captured two people crawling away from the Jeep on the lower left-hand side of the frame.
The security footage was recorded by the surveillance camera of Lillian Georgia, who lives at the house where the Jeep came to rest.
“I call that no love for their neighbor, no love for nobody, just thinking of themselves,” said Georgia.
Georgia said two of her parked cars have damage.
“I heard this ‘bang, bang, bang, bang,’ the noise,” she said. “I thought it was a gun, but when I peeped out, I saw all these cars, mangled together.”
And, Georgia added, she had just parked when the crash happened.
“Oh, I don’t believe it. Then I saw the two of them pushed together,” she said. “Then I said, ‘Thank goodness I wasn’t in one of the cars.'”
7Skyforce hovered over the scene where the stolen Jeep was seen laying on its side next to the house.
Detectives said the driver of the white car had to be removed from the vehicle. The patient was transported to Broward Health Medical Center with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening.
A subject was also injured in the crash and was checked out by paramedics at the scene.
After the crash, the three other subjects attempted to flee on foot but were quickly apprehended by police.
“I heard the police yelling, ‘Get on the ground! Put your hands up!’ And then I saw them bringing somebody in handcuffs,” said a witness.
Detectives said they were searching for the Jeep in connection to a felony out of Plantation, as well as a kidnapping investigation out of Miami.
Plantation Police said a man reported to them that he was kidnapped outside of a Flanigan’s in Coconut Grove and driven to Plantation, and that’s when the “be on the lookout” for the Jeep was issued.
According to Miami Police, after the offenders kidnapped the victim, they drove him to multiple banks and attempted to have him withdraw money from his account.
During the drive, the victim was struck in the face with a gun by one of the suspects.
The last location the suspects went to was at a Bank of America in Plantation, located at at 3800 W. Broward Blvd., where the victim was able to ask a teller for help.
Detectives said the kidnappers took off without him.
Officers found weapons and masks inside the stolen Jeep.
“How in the world can people be so terrible and so – don’t care about other people and their belongings?” said Georgia.
Thursday night, crews removed the banged-up Jeep from the neighborhood.
The suspects were identified as 17-year-old Berry Petitdos, 19-year-old Leondre Walker, 18-year-old Kevin Tomlinson and 18-year-old Erick Melgar.
Petitdos and Walker were charged with grand theft auto and resisting without violence, while Tomlinson was charged with grand theft auto.
Melgar was charged with grand theft auto, aggravated fleeing and eluding with serious injury, fleeing and eluding law enforcement. He also posted bond and was released from jail.
On Friday, Walker appeared in court to face the charges in Broward. Assistant State Attorney Eric Linder described the police pursuit.
“It involved a high-risk traffic stop, Your Honor. Mr. Walker in the vehicle refused to stop,” said Linder. ‘It involved a chase, Your Honor. The occupants in the vehicle then all ran from the vehicle.”
Walker was given a $3,000 bond and must wear a GPS monitor.
One suspect remains in the hospital.
Miami Police said that an armed kidnapping charge will be applied to the four suspects. They all remain at the Broward County Jail.
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