3 in custody after fleeing from police, crashing near downtown St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (KMOV) -- Three teenagers were injured in a car crash near downtown St. Louis Wednesday afternoon involving a vehicle taken in a recent carjacking.

Maj. Janice Bockstruck with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said city police and federal agencies were surveilling a white Nissan Altima that was taken in a carjacking on January 23. The person driving the Altima stepped out and got into another vehicle, a Ford Fusion, which was involved in a crash soon after. That vehicle was also stolen in a South City carjacking in December, Bockstruck said.

Authorities followed the black Ford Fusion, and spike strips were laid out. The driver fled, blew through a red light and was then hit by a tan Kia Sportage near the corner of Delmar and 20th around 2:30 p.m.

The teens in the Ford Fusion are aged 16, 17 and 18. One of them got out of the car and ran until officers arrested him. Another teen resisted arrest but was eventually detained. The 16-year-old was trapped in the car and was pulled out by firefighters.

The driver of the Kia wasn’t injured.

The Fusion was taken in a carjacking on December 13 in the 5900 block of Scanlan.

Police investigators believe the same group of people are involved in as many as ten carjackings and attempted carjackings this week. Police are partnering with multiple other agencies as part of a joint task force to catch the suspects involved in multiple carjackings and attempting carjackings over the last few days in St. Louis City.

Sgt. Charles Wall with SLMPD said investigators are seeking the transfer of the 16-year-old juvenile into federal custody for federal prosecution.

At large warrants were issued for Cameron Brown, the 18-year-old, for tampering first-degree, resisting arrest, and tampering second-degree. Brown was confined to an area hospital shortly after the crash. Police provided his mug shot on Feb. 3.

The 17-year-old involved was still in police custody Thursday.

Police are also investigating a homicide in the 4700 block of Compton in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of South St. Louis that they believe was an attempted carjacking by the same group of juveniles. Kay Johnson, 38, was in her vehicle in the alley suffering from a gunshot wound to the face. It happened around 7 p.m. on Tuesday night.

“The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department will continue working with Federal partners, both in this newly formed task force investigating these recent incidents, as well as in our normal day-to-day operations, in an effort to hold the most violent offenders to the highest degree of accountability afforded to us under the law,” Wall said in an email. “These investigations are still active and ongoing, and we have no additional information to provide at this time.”

Police said all three people injured in the crash at Delmar and 20th were taken to the hospital and would then be processed. They could not answer how many other suspects are out there who could be connected to the crime spree around St. Louis City.

Copyright 2023 KMOV. All rights reserved.