Wrong-Way Highway Driver Kills Four in Florida Cop Chase
A Miami-area police chase ended in the grisly death of four innocent passengers.
April 3, 2013 — -- A Miami-area police chase ended in the grisly death of four innocent passengers after the driver of the SUV being pursued by cops sped the wrong way on I-95 and crashed into a minivan.
The pursuit of a black Chevy Suburban driven by an Willie Dumel, 25, began just before 1:30 a.m. today when an officer noticed "some sort of activity," WPLG reported. While being followed, Dumel was observed tossing a weapon from his car, then after a few hundred feet, he entered the highway, according to Opa-locka Assistant City Manager David Chiverton.
"He turned into traffic, and proceeded down the on ramp into south traffic, heading north. There was a head on collision," Chiverton said.
Once Dumel entered the highway in the wrong direction, police ended their pursuit.
All four of the people who were in the minivan that the driver struck were killed. One of the bodies was ejected from the vehicle, Chiverton said, while two of the bodies in the vehicle were too mangled to move, and had to be put onto a flatbed truck with the vehicle and transported to the medical examiner. Authorities were able to transport the fourth victim separately, he said.
"The other vehicle was just broken to pieces," Chiverton told ABCNews.com. "It was just a horrific scene today."
The identity of those killed in the crash have not yet been released.
Chiverton said that the engine of Dumel's SUV was ejected, and the battery and frame of the vehicle were badly mangled.
"For the whole engine to get ejected and the frame is unconscionable," he said.
Dumel survived the accident with two broken legs and was admitted to Jackson Memorial Hospital. Charges against him are still pending, and he is cooperating with the investigation. The weapon he threw from his car was recovered by police, authorities said.
"Let me just say that I've been doing this for about 25 years and this is one of the worst accidents that I have seen," Joe Sanchez with the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The section of I-95 where the accident occurred was closed for several hours overnight, and reopened just before 9 a.m.
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