Driver killed when his car, with police chasing behind, flips in fiery crash in Pembroke Park
MIRAMAR — The driver of a speeding car died when his vehicle flipped over several times while police were following him in Pembroke Park, authorities say. A pedestrian was also injured.
It started out at about 9 p.m. on April 29 with police trying to stop a black Mercedes-Benz that sped through a 25-mph S-curve in the 6700 block of Miramar Parkway.
Moments later, the Mercedes hit someone who was crossing the street, and police said they followed the Mercedes until the driver lost control of the car, went through the windshield and the empty car flipped over three times in a shopping plaza on Hallandale Beach Boulevard.
“[The officer] was following the vehicle... at a safe distance,” said police spokeswoman Tania Rues on Wednesday. “It was not a hot pursuit.”
The driver was identified Tuesday as 25-year-old Everette Orette Brown from Port St. Lucie.
Ultimately, the car careened into multiple light poles, concrete parking stops and a fire hydrant in the plaza before landing on its roof in the middle of the road and bursting into flames, authorities said.
Broward Sheriff’s Fire Rescue took Brown to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood where he was pronounced dead.
The pedestrian was taken to the hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, investigators said.
Authorities did not release how fast the Mercedes was going. The name of the pedestrian was not disclosed, with investigators citing Marsy’s privacy law.
Witnesses estimated the Mercedes was going about 100 mph before it crashed, said Rues, but the Broward
Sheriff ’s Office has taken over that part of the investigation because it happened in Pembroke Park.
Police were using radar in the area after several speeding drivers have crashed into houses that line the
street near the S-curve over the years.
When the Mercedes flew through the curve, police tried to stop the car using flashing lights and sirens.
The driver took off driving east and then south on
Southwest 64th Avenue, where he hit the pedestrian in the 3400 block, Miramar police said.
Police followed the Mercedes at a distance as the driver sped east on Miramar Parkway and then on Hallandale Beach Boulevard, Rues said.
The driver swerved around traffic and lost control of the car, hitting the curb. That’s when the car started rolling through the plaza at 4500 W. Hallandale Beach Blvd. and caught fire in the eastbound thru lanes of Hallandale Beach Boulevard, the sheriff ’s office said.
Carmelle Mouscardy was standing outside with her family after closing up her convenience store. She saw the speeding car flying through the air.
“He flipped three times and I saw the fire,” she said. “A few minutes later I saw the guy lying on the ground in the parking lot.”
Brown’s family declined to comment.