Advertisement

Car carrying drugs crashes into SUV in southern St. Petersburg

 
A St. Petersburg police officer arrests one of the men who fled Tuesday after a crash on 22nd Avenue S in St. Petersburg. 
A St. Petersburg police officer arrests one of the men who fled Tuesday after a crash on 22nd Avenue S in St. Petersburg. 
Published Nov. 19, 2014

ST. PETERSBURG — Three men were arrested Tuesday afternoon after the car they were riding in, which was carrying cocaine and marijuana, crashed into a sport utility vehicle at a southern St. Petersburg intersection, police said.

The occupants of both vehicles were taken to local hospitals with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. While officers, at least one in plainclothes, arrived almost immediately at the crash site, a St. Petersburg police spokesman said they were not chasing the car.

Witnesses said the vehicle, a red Nissan Maxima, collided with the black SUV around 5 p.m. at 22nd Avenue S and 16th Street, then bounced off a utility pole before coming to rest. The three men climbed from the vehicle and attempted to flee, but police arrived less than a minute after the crash and apprehended them before they could get away.

St. Petersburg police spokesman Mike Puetz said the men will be charged, though he was not immediately able to say with what.

The SUV's occupants, a woman and two children, and the men in the Nissan were all treated for minor injuries, Puetz said.

Witnesses said they were shocked by how fast police arrived on scene. Brook Marquis and Becky Robinson, both 20, had just picked up their infant sons from day care and were waiting at the bus stop on 17th Street when they heard the crash and saw police show up almost immediately.

Puetz said it was just coincidence. Officers happened to be in the area, he said.

Contact Katie Mettler at kmettler@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8913. Follow her @kemettler.