A high-speed police chase involving a Louisiana inmate on a work release program ended in a dramatic high-flying crash captured on camera on Tuesday.
Kevonte Dekorey Austin, 18, was arrested by Webster Parish Sheriff’s deputies after leading officers on a chase that reached speeds of 185 km/h and ended with the truck losing control after hitting police spike strips, travelling down an embankment and being launched into the air.
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Video recorded by a witness showed the pickup soaring through the air before flipping and landing on the roof of another vehicle in a parking lot of a nearby restaurant.
A woman in the parked car was able to escape unharmed.
“I felt around to see if I was hurt and could tell that I was OK,” Barbara Harlon, the woman in the crushed car, told KSLA. “God was with me.”
Police say Austin, who was previously serving a sentence for car theft and a probation violation, walked off a Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office Transitional work release program on Feb. 8 by stealing another employee’s vehicle.
Tuesday’s chase was sparked when a Webster Parish Sheriff’s deputy stopped Austin and an unidentified driver in a truck that was reported stolen.
As the officer was speaking to the driver, Austin allegedly jumped into the driver’s seat and took off.
Both Austin and the driver were taken into custody.
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