Four people, including a pregnant teenager, died in a fiery crash this week as the state police in southeastern Pennsylvania pursued their car in connection with recent retail thefts in the area, the authorities said.
The chase, lasting about five minutes over seven miles on Route 322, happened on Wednesday afternoon after the car, a red Ford Taurus carrying seven people, sped off after being stopped by the police, the Pennsylvania State Police said in a statement on Thursday.
The driver, weaving in and out of traffic, lost control and crossed the roadway before hitting a concrete bridge embankment and catching fire, the state police said. State troopers tried to get the people out the car while extinguishing the flames, the authorities said.
Isaiah Miller, 20, who was driving; Ikeam Rogers, 20; and Kalyn Billups, 21, were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, the state police said. Tyjana Motley, 17, who was pregnant, died a short time later at a hospital.
An emergency C-section was performed to try to save Ms. Motley’s child, the state police said, but the efforts were unsuccessful. The three other people in the car were taken to area hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The car was initially noticed by troopers who were patrolling the Shoppes at Brinton Lake, a mall in Concord Township, Delaware County, because of a recent series of retail thefts, the state police said. One person in the Taurus was “believed to be involved in a previous retail theft at the shopping center,” the agency said, without identifying that person.
When a state trooper initially approached the car, three or four people who had previously gotten out of the Ford Taurus got back in and drove away, the state police said. The police later stopped the car after noticing that it had a tinted front windshield, expired inspection stickers and a Delaware temporary paper registration obscured by a tinted license plate cover. But then the driver of the Taurus sped off, the police said.
The crash remains under investigation, and the state police said that they were unable to provide additional information on Thursday.
The Pennsylvania State Police produces an annual police pursuit report using data from all agencies across the state. In 2022, the year for the most recent available report, police officers in Pennsylvania reported a total of 2,718 pursuits. Nine people were killed in “pursuit-related crashes,” according to the report.