High-speed police chase ends with car into house

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A high-speed police chase following a murder investigation ended abruptly early Wednesday morning when a suspect’s vehicle plowed into a nearby home.

St. Pete police say it happened overnight near 20th Avenue and 22nd Street South, just blocks away from an investigation into the afternoon shooting death of a local 17-year-old.

According to a police spokesperson, detectives had just wrapped up the investigation and left the original crime scene around 1 a.m., when they were called back to the area over reports of a brawl.

“We heard engines roaring, then shots fired, then we observed the three vehicles that were following behind each other. We were able to get behind this particular vehicle at that time,” explained a lieutenant at the scene of the crash.

Police followed that car as it continued to try and get away. They said the driver reached speeds of 80 miles-per-hour before he eventually lost control and slammed into a nearby home.

Images directly after the crash showed the driver’s vehicle on its side and large amounts of debris from the home on the ground nearby.

The driver was arrested for fleeing and alluding, an aggravated charge because of the property damage, and then taken to a nearby hospital for minor injuries.

Detectives have since learned he had no connection to the unsolved murder case, and said they are not sure why he tried to escape police.

As for the family inside, officials said they were not harmed in the crash.