ST. LOUIS — One person was killed and three people were injured when a police pursuit ended in a crash Tuesday afternoon in north St. Louis.
The crash happened shortly after noon near the intersection of Page and Goodfellow boulevards, near the border of the Hamilton Heights and West End neighborhoods.
St. Louis Metropolitan police Maj. Janice Bockstruck said the department's mobile reserve unit was informed by the Real Time Crime Center that a stolen vehicle was driving erratically in the Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood. Police spotted the car at Goodfellow Boulevard and St. Louis Avenue, where it stopped at a red light before eventually driving through it.
When officers activated their lights and sirens, the vehicle fled, Bockstruck said. Other officers who were ahead of the car set up spike strips, and when the driver spotted the strips, he put the car in revese and almost struck officers. The car then jumped a curb and sped through a vacant lot to get away.
Bockstruck said the car continued fleeing, violating two red lights, including at Page and Goodfellow boulevards, where it was struck by a car that was passing through the intersection on a green light.
The stolen car rolled onto its side. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene, Bockstruck said.
A teenage passenger in the stolen car and two people in the other vehicle were taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police cordoned off an area of the street and were investigating a white vehicle that had heavy damage.
“It was loud, crazy and scary. We saw the police speeding down Page and chasing those people in that car,” said one neighbor, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“It happened so fast. After the crash, police ran to help the boy first. They pulled him out of one of the banged-up car’s windows. They then helped get that man out. He was limping. They both were clearly hurt,” said the concerned neighbor. “... I’m just so glad those two innocent people in that Black Lexus are okay. That could have been my child because we drive up and down Page Boulevard every day."
The incident happened roughly an hour before a separate police pursuit that ended with a St. Louis officer fatally shooting a teenage suspect in The Ville neighborhood. The incidents were unrelated, police said.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.