Dan Belson
Baltimore Sun
(TNS)
Two cars, one of which police were attempting to stop, collided and struck an East Baltimore building Wednesday night, killing a pedestrian, injuring five people and causing the structure to partially collapse, according to Baltimore Police.
Baltimore Deputy Commissioner Richard Worley said the crash happened at about 8:54 p.m., after police attempted to stop one of the vehicles, which he said was stolen, on the East North Avenue corridor.
When police tried to stop the vehicle, it accelerated and crashed into another vehicle, and then a building on the southeast corner of North Wolfe Street and East North Avenue. Both vehicles were occupied, and the building appeared to be vacant.
The crash killed a 54-year-old man, who police said was a pedestrian on the sidewalk. Five people who were in the vehicles were taken to hospitals with injuries. Police did not know the condition of the other five.
Worley said authorities were still determining whether the Independent Investigations Division of the Attorney General’s Office will be handling the matter.
Police and fire crews pulled the vehicles from the wreckage and continued to clear debris in the intersection, which is on the border of the Broadway East and South Clifton Park neighborhoods.
Police had spotted the vehicle about “four or five blocks” up from the scene of the crash, Worley said. It was unclear how police were attempting to stop the vehicle.
“I don’t know that we were pursuing at all, we attempted to stop it,” Worley said when asked about the stop. “That’s still under investigation, we’ll look at all the body-worn camera, any other video to see what in fact happened to cause the vehicle to take off.”
CityLink Gold and LocalLink 21 bus routes are temporarily diverted as crews assess the scene.
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