ST. LOUIS — An innocent driver was killed in a crash involving a car that was fleeing St. Louis County police Wednesday, St. Louis Metropolitan Police said.
According to Major Eric Larson with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, the incident started at around 4 p.m. on the parking lot of River City Casino, where St. Louis County police were conducting a "tactical operation." A red car in the parking lot fled police onto River City Casino Boulevard and crashed into an unrelated truck less than a mile away at the intersection of River City Casino Boulevard and South Broadway Street.
Hours after the crash, the red car was still on South Broadway with severe front-end damage. The truck ended up in some trees off the side of the road.
A Thursday afternoon crash report said the driver of the truck was thrown from the vehicle in the crash.
Larson said the driver of the truck was pronounced dead on the scene of the crash. Two men inside the red car were taken to the hospital for treatment. A crash report on Thursday said they were in critical condition at the hospital.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is handling the investigation because the crash happened just inside the city limits near the city-county border in south St. Louis.
A St. Louis County Police Department spokeswoman said the operation was related to a drug investigation.
A witness, Michael Bini, said he saw police officers deploy spike strips a few hundred feet from the intersection. He said a second later, the crash occurred about 25 or 35 feet from where he was standing.
Bini estimated the car was going faster than 100 mph when it T-boned the truck and launched it into the air.
"It was one of the most horrific incidents I've ever seen," Bini said. "The impact was something you could only see in a movie or something like that, it was very surreal."
He said he could hear police sirens in the distance, but he didn't see a police vehicle chasing behind the car.
This story will be updated when more information becomes available.