Three people were hospitalized — one with life-threatening injuries — after a police chase through west Mobile ended in a multi-vehicle crash Wednesday morning near the intersection of Old Shell Road and McGregor Avenue.
From a Traffic Stop to a Pursuit
According to the Mobile Police Department, officers attempted a traffic stop in the area of Michael Boulevard and Azalea Road, but the driver accelerated away instead of pulling over. Officers pursued the vehicle through west Mobile until the fleeing driver reached McGregor Avenue and crashed — striking two police vehicles and at least two civilian vehicles.
“The male subject who led officers on the pursuit has life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital,” an MPD press release read. “Two occupants of one of the vehicles were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.”
No information about the driver or the other people injured had been released as of press time, and no names or charges had been announced.
A Busy Intersection, a Hard Lesson
The Old Shell Road and McGregor Avenue intersection is one of the busiest in west Mobile, ringed by businesses and residential streets, which is part of why a pursuit ending there is so dangerous. Investigators with MPD’s traffic unit were working to reconstruct the sequence of impacts and determine speeds, and the department said the crash remained under investigation with spokesperson Blake Brown coordinating the flow of information.
Pursuit crashes involving fleeing drivers are a recurring hazard for the department, and each one is reviewed to determine whether the chase followed the department’s pursuit policy. The review typically looks at the reason for the initial stop, the speeds involved, traffic conditions and whether the pursuing officers should have broken off before the crash.
Police urged drivers who see emergency lights behind them to pull over safely and quickly — and reminded residents that the consequences of fleeing, as Wednesday’s crash showed, can be measured in hospital beds.
The investigation was ongoing. Anyone who witnessed the pursuit or the crash, or who has video from the area, was asked to contact the Mobile Police Department.