5-year-old girl dead after 30-mile police chase ends in Florida pond
A 5-year-old girl is dead after she was abducted and taken on a wild police chase in Florida — where the car ended up careening into a pond, officials said.
Jacksonville police were en route to a possible armed kidnapping around 7:30 p.m. when a unit saw a vehicle matching a description given by witnesses.
The car sped off after seeing the cop and merged onto the I-95 highway.
Jacksonville sheriff’s officials said they chased the suspected kidnapper at speeds of over 90 mph for roughly 30 miles before she made an attempt to exit the highway.
“For obvious reasons, we had to stay behind this vehicle,” Officer Christian Hancock of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said of the pursuit.
The vehicle ended up in a retention pond as police exited their vehicles and rushed into the water.
The suspect was apprehended in the water but the girl was not immediately visible, Hancock said.
Dive teams arrived later.
“The child was unfortunately located at the bottom of the pond, deceased,” Hancock said.
Cops did not name the suspect — who faces murder charges and was armed with a knife.
The relationship between the woman and child is unclear. The probe is continuing.
