A vehicle wound up wrapped around a utility pole at South Upper and Pine streets in Lexington after a police chase on Tuesday afternoon, police said.
According to the Kentucky State Police, an officer following up on a stolen vehicle report was pursuing a man driving a gold Acura SUV down South Broadway about 5 p.m.
The man sped up to escape and continued speeding down Pine Street even after the officer stopped the pursuit, police said.
The man ran three stop signs before being hit by an SUV heading down South Upper. The vehicle the man was driving then smashed into a utility pole. After the crash, a fire started in the vehicle the man was driving; first responders put it out quickly. The man was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, and the woman driving the other SUV also was taken to a hospital.
Witnesses gathered at Mellow Mushroom restaurant across the street after the crash. Several said they saw the man nearly rear-end an SUV driven by Dolores Robertson, 23. Her husband, Lazza Robertson, 22; two children; and Don Ajgans, 23, were also in the vehicle.
The Robertsons were turning off South Broadway onto Pine Street when the speeding vehicle came up behind them, the couple said.
After Dolores Robertson swerved out of the way, the crash happened right in front of her. "If I wouldn't have hurried up and turned off, he would have hit me," Dolores Robertson said.
"He was traveling about 100 miles an hour," Lazza Robertson added.
Copyright 2013 - Lexington Herald-Leader
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
