Deputies: Suspect led police on chase across Central Florida in stolen vehicles until crashing into school bus
A man is accused of grand theft and attempting to harm cops after a wild series of events in both Lake and Orange counties on Friday morning.
It started as a stolen truck then a carjacking and a crash with a school bus.
“We saw the school bus pass by, and all of a sudden, we hear a tremendous boom,” Bradley Gardner, a witness, said.
Gardner rushed from the farmer's market, stunned by what he saw.
“The school bus' rear tires on the passenger side were on the hood of the car,” Gardner said.
Two adults and three students were on board a school bus that the suspect crashed into in Groveland. Thankfully nobody was hurt.
“The good Lord was looking out for those children on that bus,” Gardner said.
“Started as a grand theft. Victim said her truck had been stolen overnight,” Lt. Fred Jones with the Lake County sheriff’s office said.
Before the crash in Groveland, a truck was reported stolen. GPS tracked the truck to a gas station. The suspect was getting gas. When deputies arrived, he took off, doing what he could to not be captured, according to the sheriff's office.
“He went head-on with a deputy, ended up striking the vehicle, disabled that vehicle, hit another vehicle,” Jones said.
A deputy’s body cam captured the effort to arrest a grand theft suspect.
“I don't think it's going to be drivable,” the deputy said on body cam. “Lake, he just ran into my car."
Deputies deployed stop sticks, flattening the tires on the stolen truck. When it wouldn't roll anymore, the sheriff's office said he attempted two carjackings.
“Fortunately, the driver locked the doors. He wasn't able to get in, so he went to another where a lady was getting out of her vehicle, carjacked that one," Jones said.
At some point, the suspect took a detour through a church property and through a fence in Lake County.
“I'm driving behind this guy and he's driving really erratically,” a 911 caller said. “He just hit a school bus. He just hit a school bus."
Groveland police did the rest.
“Jumped into action, detained the driver, and they actually even extinguished a small fire that broke out due to the car crash,” Sarah Panko with Groveland police said.
And 23-year-old Joseph Crawford was arrested and taken to the hospital due to the injuries he got in the crash with the bus.
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