A man died after going down Thursday morning following a brief chase with Wichita police.
Police said the vehicle was used in several theft cases.
Police called off the short chase soon after it began due to the speed at which the driver was traveling, according to Wichita Police spokesman Trevor Macy. The driver, who was heading north on Washington, continued to accelerate before hitting another vehicle just north of Funston when he tried to pass the vehicle on the right, Macy said.
The driver then overturned the vehicle. The car stopped just before Osie. Police were called to the incident at 8:26am
The man escaped from the vehicle and collapsed behind a truck a couple of houses down from where the car had landed. He was initially unresponsive when he was taken to the hospital. One man in the vehicle refused to be taken to hospital. A woman driving the Buick car who was struck was not injured.
Police were searching for the suspect vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, in connection with several burglaries in the Wichita area, Macy said. Officers handling those cases this morning spotted the vehicle near Hydraulic and Wassall.
After a traffic violation in Washington and Wassall, Macy said, an officer tried to stop the vehicle in Pawnee and Washington and the driver took off.
Bodycam footage shows the driver walking past an SUV just after crossing Pawnee on his way north onto Washington. The officer turns on the sirens and the driver drives off. A speed limit sign said 30 mph. The driver passes a flatbed truck and another SUV.
As the officer passes the flatbed, he says over the radio, “The vehicle is taking off on me. I’m not going to pursue.
Seconds later, the officer says the driver just passed Mount Vernon and is probably driving between 60 and 70 mph.
The driver crashes less than a mile from where the chase began.
The Toyota stopped on its roof in the southbound lane, facing south. A shoe, a drill, a glass and other items were scattered on the street.
A pair of binoculars was found under a nearby truck parked by the side of the road, where the driver of the overturned truck tried to overtake the other car. The owner was relieved to find his truck sustained no damage. Another neighbor, who was walking along the street with a stick, said he thought the noise was the wind blowing over the trash cans.
The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating the crash as the pursuit involved a Wichita officer.
