JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It remained unclear Thursday night exactly what led to a pursuit earlier in the day involving Jacksonville police along Roosevelt Boulevard.
Witnesses told News4JAX the chase involved more than a dozen patrol vehicles that were after the driver of a white pickup truck. Footage from Sky 4 showed a vacant lot off Roosevelt Boulevard just south of Timuquana Road where police cruisers had surrounded a white pickup.
Footage from a scene further down the road showed a cruiser that had driven through a resident’s fence, ending up in their yard and hitting a tree. A second cruiser in the road had front end damage. A black SUV that was heavily damaged also appeared to have been involved.
The property owner said she was inside her house when just before 3 p.m. she heard a loud bang. She said she went outside and saw the officer standing outside the car and noticed smoke was coming from up under the cruiser’s hood.
Her next-door neighbor, Morgan Singeltary, said he was in his backyard when the chase led to several crashes.
“All of a sudden, I heard pow, pow, pow. It sounded like gunshots. I was scared for a second there. I called my roommate and said ‘Let’s go see what’s going on.’ I see a couple of cop cars flying past. Then I see a bunch more,” Singeltary said. “Then I come out and see the accident that happened next door.”
A News4JAX viewer who did not want to be identified said he was sitting at a red light at the intersection of San Juan Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard when a white pickup truck blew past him. He said he counted at least 20 patrol cars in pursuit of the pickup. He said by the time he drove up on the crash scene, he counted at least a half dozen JSO cruisers with damage along with some civilian cars.
It’s unclear if the driver of the pickup truck was captured.