JACKSON — An innocent bystander was killed when his car was struck by a suspected shoplifter leading police on a chase from a suburb into Mississippi’s capital city, police said Tuesday.
The chase Monday night happened less than three months after Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes said police chases from suburbs into Jackson are endangering people. Stokes suggested in January that people throw rocks, bricks and bottles at officers chasing misdemeanor suspects into the city.
Lonnie Blue Jr., 34, of Braxton, died when his car was struck by a fleeing vehicle in west Jackson, authorities said. Stokes said Blue’s family told him that Blue was on his way home from work when his car was hit.
“This man is dead and we warned them and told them that something bad was going to happen,” Stokes told WAPT-TV Tuesday. “How many people come home from work and get the death penalty?”
Clinton interim police chief Mike Gill said officers tried to stop a vehicle leaving Wal-Mart after a report that a computer and other electronic devices had been stolen in the suburban store, but the vehicle kept going and officers chased it into west Jackson. Gill said officers followed state law during the pursuit.
“We’re going to do our job. If you run, we’re going to chase you,” Gill said during a news conference Tuesday, according to The Clarion-Ledger.
The shoplifting suspect and passengers in that vehicle were taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center after the vehicle carrying them caught fire, multiple news media outlets reported.
Clinton Mayor Phil Fisher said at a news conference Tuesday: “This is a terrible, terrible thing that happened, but this is irresponsible driving on the criminal and not the Clinton Police Department.”
Gill said Clinton police notified Jackson police as the pursuit moved into the city. He said he did not know the speed of the chase but “our officers were backing off.”
“They were a few hundred feet away from the vehicle that caused the wreck. They were talking, they were discussing breaking off the pursuit at that time.”
Jackson Police Chief Lee Vance told The Clarion-Ledger that to his knowledge, his police department was not notified until after the crash occurred.
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