A Louisville police attempt to stop a suspected stolen car near South 24th Street and Garland Avenue ended in a violent crash Tuesday morning, ejecting a passenger who was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Officers say the driver sped off, blew through a red light, and slammed into another vehicle that had the right of way, leaving a trail of injuries in the city's California neighborhood.
According to wdrbwave.com, officers attempted the traffic stop at 11:03 a.m. after spotting the suspected stolen vehicle. The driver took off at high speed rather than stopping, setting off a chain of events that would end blocks away at the intersection of Dr. W. J. Hodge Street and Garland Avenue.
As detailed by WLKY, the fleeing driver ran a red light at that intersection and struck another vehicle that had the right of way. The passenger riding in the fleeing car was ejected during the crash and taken to UofL Hospital in critical condition, the station's report notes. As WHAS11 also reported, multiple people were hospitalized as a result of the wreck.
Driver, Other Motorists Also Hurt
The driver of the fleeing vehicle was also injured in the crash but is expected to survive, per the same wdrbwave.com account. Occupants of the vehicle that was struck sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the outlet reported, sparing them from the more severe outcome suffered by the ejected passenger.
Given the severity of the crash, LMPD's Traffic and Public Integrity units are jointly investigating what happened, according to WLKY. That dual-unit response reflects the seriousness with which the department is treating a case that left a passenger fighting for their life after what began as a routine attempt to recover a suspected stolen car.
Second Pursuit Crash in Less Than a Day
Tuesday's wreck was notable for another reason: WLKY reported it marked the second time in less than 24 hours that a car fleeing LMPD had overturned in a crash. That grim streak included a separate west Louisville incident in which seven people, including three Jefferson County Public Schools students, were injured during an LMPD apprehension attempt, according to Yahoo News.
The back-to-back crashes in Louisville came during a rough stretch for police pursuits across Kentucky more broadly. Kentucky.com reported that three separate pursuits across the state in the previous calendar week left a Lexington man shot and killed by officers, another man arrested after a 42-minute chase near the Montgomery/Bourbon County line, and multiple people injured in a Somerset crash that caused collisions at two separate intersections.
A Longer-Running Pattern in Pursuit Crashes
The surge isn't necessarily new. A University of Louisville doctoral study examining Kentucky State Police pursuits found an upward trend in pursuit-related collisions and injuries between 2009 and 2017, according to research published through the University of Louisville's institutional repository. That same research found that pursuits involving three or more units had the potential to increase the likelihood of collisions, while the use of tire-deflation devices was found to decrease that risk.
Louisville has seen chase-related crashes near this same stretch of road before. In a separate, undated case, WLKY reported that LMPD said 45-year-old Octavius Long was spotted stealing a pickup truck in the Algonquin area, and when police tried to stop him, he failed to yield, striking several cars before hitting another vehicle at 22nd Street and Garland Avenue. No further details connect that earlier case to Tuesday's crash.
LMPD has not released additional information on the condition of the suspected stolen vehicle, the identities of those involved, or whether charges have been filed. The joint investigation by the Traffic and Public Integrity units remains ongoing.
