A woman pulled a man from his BMW and fled the scene, driving dangerously against oncoming traffic on one of the city’s busiest roads Tuesday until she crashed near the Interstate 75 interchange, authorities said.
The driver wasn’t immediately identified. The Alachua County Sheriff’s Office said she was taken to UF Health Shands Hospital for treatment after the crash and faces what authorities described as several felony charges.
A sheriff’s spokesman, Capt. Chris Sims, described the case as a carjacking.
A photograph from the scene of the crash near Williston Road and I-75 showed a badly damaged silver BMW with a smashed front end and shattered windshield.
A sheriff’s deputy observed the woman driving the BMW strike several vehicles around Main Street and Southwest Williston Road, Sims said.
After striking the vehicles, the BMW went airborne, hopping over the median to race westbound through the eastbound lanes, Sims said. The deputy had his cruiser lights flashing and he attempted to make a traffic stop.
The driver did not stop, and continued to flee through an active school zone. The deputy wasn’t sure whether children might be in the school zone, so he backed off the pursuit but still followed the BMW, Sims said.
Meanwhile, Gainesville police received a call about a carjacking. The department knew that sheriff’s deputies were chasing a car so they reached out. The owner of the vehicle described the car that deputies were chasing.
The sheriff’s office said pursuing deputies would try to safely get the car off the road. The woman continued the high-speed chase against oncoming traffic on Southwest Williston Road until she reached I-75 entrance and exit ramps.
The driver lost control of the vehicle during the turn as she tried to hop the median to get onto I-75, then crashed into a Federal Express tractor-trailer exiting the interstate.
Sims said the driver of the stolen car suffered significant injuries and was expected to remain hospitalized.
Bills under consideration in the Legislature in Tallahassee this year would reclassify fleeing from police as a felony and could result in a driver being sentenced to prison for up to three years if someone is badly hurt or dies from the pursuit.
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