FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - Police took two teenage boys into custody after they led officers in a chase that ended in a violent multi-vehicle crash in Oakland Park, leaving a woman dead and sending five others to the hospital, investigators said.
According to Fort Lauderdale Police, the chaotic chain of events began about eight miles away, with a home burglary in the area of Mercedes Drive and Westlake Drive in Fort Lauderdale, just before 5 a.m., Sunday.
People inside the house were sleeping when, according to detectives, thieves stole the keys to three cars outside of their home and drove off in those vehicles.
Investigators said an officer spotted one of the stolen vehicles, a white Mercedes-Benz, and a pursuit ensued. It would come to a crashing end near Oakland Park Boulevard and Powerline Road.
Edras Lopez said his pregnant sister was in one of the cars involved, with her friend, at the time.
“My sister, she called me, and she said she was driving straight on Oakland Park [Boulevard], and she said her light was green, and she said she only felt that some car came out from the middle of nowhere and pushed her away to there,” he said.
Lopez said his sibling frantically called him to the scene after the crash, but by the time he got there, she had already been taken to the hospital.
“Her friend, she’s crying outside the car, too. She said she cannot feel her hand, she cannot feel her stomach, and when her friend is like this, and my sister, she’s pregnant. It’s for this that I worry about her,” he said.
Cameras captured multiple damaged cars along the grass and near sidewalks at the intersection.
Police said the teens ran from the crash site but were later caught and taken into custody.
Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies also responded to the scene of the crash to assist Fort Lauderdale Police.
According to BSO, Oakland Park Fire Rescue crews transported the injured victims to Broward Health Medical Center, where a woman was pronounced dead.
Traffic on Oakland Park Boulevard was temporarily diverted as officers investigated the scene. The roadway has since reopened to traffic
It remains unclear whether or not the two other vehicles that were stolen have been located.
Fort Lauderdale Police detectives have also not specified what happened to the subjects who were driving the other stolen cars, as they continue to investigate.
BSO detectives are investigating the traffic fatality.
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