Police vehicle goes on two wheels when attempted to PIT a car jacked vehicle
On Saturday, April 28, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Communication Center received information from the Indian River County Sheriff's Office that there was a Black Jaguar SUV northbound on U.S. 1, doing approximately 100 miles per hour that had been stolen during an armed carjacking.
According to the initial , the vehicle was occupied by two male suspects and a female suspect who was reportedly armed with a semi-automatic handgun that was used during the carjacking.
Additionally, a Sebastian police officer was following the vehicle as it entered Brevard County on U.S. 1.
Brevard County Sheriff's Deputy Bill Hammer was able to intercept the vehicle in the 5900 block of south U.S.1 and was joined by an Indian River County Deputy.
As Deputy Hammer was positioning to engage the vehicle, the charges were confirmed over the radio that the vehicle and occupants were involved in an armed carjacking and had stolen the vehicle.
Deputy Hammer then attempted to stop the vehicle at which time the vehicle fled and a pursuit was initiated.
The pursuit continued into the cities of Palm Bay and Melbourne where officers from Palm Bay and Melbourne assisted in trying to stop the vehicle by successfully deploying "stop sticks" to deflate the vehicle's tires along University Boulevard.
During the PIT maneuver, Deputy Hammer's patrol car got caught on the suspect vehicle, which still continued to try and elude arrest. At one point, the suspect vehicle attempted to force Deputy Hammer's patrol car off the road and almost flipped the patrol unit.
The suspect vehicle eventually stopped, at which time Deputies Hammer and Guttebo with the assistance of Melbourne police quickly apprehended the occupants of the vehicle, a black male juvenile driver and black female juvenile passenger.