QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY, Md. - A police chase ensued in North Philadelphia when an attempt to stop the driver of a pickup truck for a traffic violation turned out to be a murder suspect wanted in Maryland Sunday evening.
According to Philadelphia Police Inspector D.F. Pace, the incident began at about 11:14 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 14, after officers ran the tags on a blue pickup truck they stopped along the 4000 block of I Street in Philadelphia's Juniata Park neighborhood for traffic violations.
After running the truck's Maryland license plate, Pace said the officers learned the truck was sought in connection to a murder that had occurred just the day before.
Before officers could approach the car, the driver sped away and the police gave chase, "given that the vehicle was wanted in a connection with a homicide," said Pace.
Through the course of the chase, the truck ended up crashing along the 4000 block of Castor Avenue, where Pace said, it slammed into two cars that were parked illegally in the center median before it continued to crash into cars parked on both sides of the street.
Pace said that there were two people inside the pickup truck and they were both taken to nearby hospitals. Police said the driver suffered injuries to his leg and back and the passenger was taken to the hospital as a precaution.
Follow up investigation found that the blue pickup truck, which was totaled in the crash, allegedly belonged to a victim that was murdered in Queen Anne's County, Maryland.
Pace said the driver of the truck is being held as a suspect in that homicide and police will be extraditing him back to Maryland to face charges. The individual, Pace said, is also expected to face charges due to this incident in Philadelphia, as well. Also, Pace said, investigators did not recover any weapons from the truck.
Police did not identify the people involved in this incident, but is an ongoing investigation.