One dead after police chase results in crash | News Alert

A person is dead after a high-speed police chase ended in a fiery, multi-vehicle crash Monday night.

According to Kentucky State Police, the pursuit ended around 7:30 p.m. Monday when the suspect’s vehicle crashed into bystander vehicles.

According to the KSP news release, a preliminary investigation by KSP’s Critical Incident Response Team reveals a KSP trooper attempted to conduct a traffic stop on a KIA Soul near the 2 mile-marker on Ky. 313, or Joe Prather Highway, near Interstate 65. The vehicle failed to yield and a pursuit ensued.

The release said the pursuit continued westbound on Joe Prather with speeds reaching 100 mph before turning southbound onto South Dixie Boulevard in Radcliff.

While traveling south, the KIA Soul made a U-turn and continued north on highway, which also is known U.S. 31W, the release said. The suspect’s vehicle ran a red light at the intersection with Gateway Crossing Boulevard striking three vehicles there.

The crash disabled the vehicle and it caught fire in the southbound lanes of the road, the release said.

The driver, whose name was not release by KSP, was pronounced deceased at the scene by the Hardin County Coroner’s Office, the release said.

Occupants of the other three vehicles were transported to Baptist Health Hardin with non-life threatening injuries. No law-enforcement officers were injured during the pursuit, the release said.

The roadway was blocked for several hours while KSP conducted its investigation.

Christina Killian, an eyewitness on the scene, said she was driving on Ky. 313 and she saw the vehicle turn onto South Dixie headed toward Elizabethtown.

“I saw two state troopers in my rearview mirror, so we pulled off to the side to make room for them,” she said, adding she and the KSP vehicles were traveling north on South Dixie toward Radcliff.

Killian said the KSP cruisers did a U-Turn to give chase to the suspect south on South Dixie.

“So after I passed Joe Prather and (the cruisers) had passed us, I went ahead and pulled off at the (Five Star) gas station and pulled into the parking lot and drove to the Burger King parking lot,” she said.

Killian said at that time, her daughter, Chiara Maxwell, noticed the crash at the Gateway Crossing intersection.

“The (suspect’s vehicle) was on fire,” she said, adding she had medical training and also was going to assist until EMS arrived, if she was needed.

Four vehicles – a black truck impacted in the front, a blue Toyota SUV and another black sedan – were damaged at the crash scene.

Multiple KSP cruisers, Radcliff police cruisers and fire vehicles and a Hardin County Coroner’s Office vehicle were on scene. The suspect’s vehicle had sheets drawn over the driver’s side door and rear of the vehicle.

According to the release, the crash still is under investigation and no further details will be released at this time.

“KSP is committed to being transparent while ensuring the integrity of the investigation,” the release said. “To protect the integrity of an ongoing investigation, it is KSP’s standard operating procedure not to release specific details until vital witnesses have been interviewed and pertinent facts gathered. Timelines to complete investigations vary based on the complexity of the case.”

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