MARION COUNTY, FL (352today.com) – The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) is investigating a crash involving a stolen Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) patrol vehicle that killed three people and injured another.
FHP says the accident happened on SR 40 between Forest Road 88 and Hwy. 19.
Troopers say a woman stole a 2021 Ford Explorer from a Marion County deputy and was traveling east on SR 40 at a high rate of speed, attempting to get away from law enforcement, when it crashed into a 2016 GMC truck which was headed west on SR 40.
FHP says the woman led law enforcement on a chase of about 10 miles before she lost control of the deputy’s SUV and collided head-on with the pickup truck.
Troopers identified the person who stole the SUV as a 33-year-old woman from Ocala. She died in the crash which killed a 73-year-old man and a 72-year-old female passenger in the pickup truck. FHP says both people in the truck are from Waterloo, South Carolina.
FHP says a second passenger in the pickup truck was transported to HCA Hospital in Ocala in critical condition.
How it began
MCSO says around 2:00 p.m. on Thursday a deputy responded to a report of a suspicious incident at Forest Plaza in the 15900 block of E Highway 40 in Silver Springs.
The sheriff’s office says when the deputy arrived, he made contact with an individual involved in the suspicious incident.
“Shortly after the deputy exited his patrol vehicle, the individual entered it and fled at a high rate of speed. While fleeing in the stolen vehicle, the driver ultimately crashed into the pickup truck,” said MCSO in a news release.