Pearl PD: Officer taken to hospital after crash during pursuit involving juveniles from North Carolina

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Pearl Police have released more information regarding the police pursuit that ended in a multi-vehicle crash in front of Children’s of Mississippi on Woodrow Wilson Avenue.

The chase began in Pearl on Interstate 20 westbound Thursday night after units with Pearl Police scanned a license plate and confirmed that the suspect vehicle was occupied with a “kidnapping victim.”

According to Pearl Communications Director Frank Hutton, the suspect vehicle was carrying missing juveniles from North Carolina.

Pearl Police spotted the suspect vehicle near Airport Road and when officers approached the suspect vehicle, it led police on a chase.

Hutton said the suspect led officers on a chase into the city limits of Jackson where a Pearl Police cruiser crashed on Interstate 55 at the Waterworks Curve. The officer received injuries from the crash and was taken to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in an AMR ambulance. The officer is in stable condition.

The suspect vehicle continued onto Woodrow Wilson Avenue where the driver of the vehicle lost control, struck other cars, and wrecked in front of Children’s of Mississippi.

The suspect, whose identity was not released by Pearl Police, was taken into custody and is being charged with felony fleeing. The suspect is being held at the Rankin County Juvenile Detention Center.

The reported missing juvenile was found safe. The person was listed as a missing person from Catawba County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina. Pearl Detectives have made contact with investigators from North Carolina and the juveniles’ parents.

No one in the other vehicles involved in the crash were injured.

Capital Police are currently working on both vehicle accidents.

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