JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New dashboard camera video given to News4JAX is shedding light on a police chase and crashes Thursday on the city’s Westside.
Two Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office police cruisers, a civilian’s sport utility vehicle and a pickup truck that was reported stolen were all damaged during the pursuit. And police said two people in the pickup were arrested after the truck crashed into a light pole in a vacant lot between Roosevelt and Ortega boulevards.
After an update Friday night to the story with new cellphone video of the pickup crash scene, a man, who asked to remain anonymous, gave dashcam footage to News4JAX. He said he recently installed rear- and forward-looking cameras in his car, and from two different angles, the cameras recorded clear footage of the chase that he found himself in the middle of.
PREVIOUS STORIES: Cruiser plows through fence, hits tree during pursuit along Roosevelt Boulevard | Men in masks, license plate check sparked pursuit of stolen white pickup along Roosevelt Boulevard, police say
The man said he was traveling south on Roosevelt Boulevard near Florida State College at Jacksonville Kent Campus when he started hearing police sirens. The first angle is recorded from the rear-mounted camera, and it shows a white Ford pickup truck, which JSO said came back as stolen when police ran the plate, coming at him from behind and then moving into the right lane to go past him. A police SUV can be seen following the truck.
Then the forward-mounted camera records the vehicles speeding away.
Soon after, footage shows more officers speeding by in the far right lane. Less than a minute later, a line of marked and unmarked police cars with emergency lights and sirens activated can be seen speeding past in pursuit of the pickup.
Police can also be seen joining the chase on Roosevelt Boulevard from various side streets. Then, miles up the road, traffic can be seen slowing down because of a roadblock.
During the pursuit, according to the Sheriff’s Office, two marked JSO patrol vehicles struck each other, causing them to cross the center median of Roosevelt Boulevard into oncoming traffic. One of those marked units crashed through a fence and into a tree near the intersection of Yacht Club Road in Ortega while the second struck a black SUV head-on.
From the dashcam audio recorder, the voice of the driver of that vehicle can be heard worrying about the people in the SUV.
“Oh, he wrecked into a car. Those poor people,” he says.
The chase eventually came to a stop nearby in a vacant lot between Ortega and Roosevelt boulevards, where the truck crashed into a light pole. Video from the Sky 4 helicopter shows the truck surrounded by police.
According to JSO, the driver of the SUV that was hit by police was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said neither officer was transported for treatment of injuries.
The Sheriff’s Office said one of the two people who were in the truck was hospitalized for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, while the other was arrested at the scene.
Police noted that investigators found a gun in the truck. The Sheriff’s Office has not identified the two people who were inside and arrested.