A motorist suffered injuries when a fleeing murder suspect crashed into the person’s vehicle during a police chase in Jackson, Miss., on Wednesday, Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said at a press conference the same day.
The innocent motorist’s condition was unknown at this time but Wade said their injuries were “non-life threatening.”
JPD and Capitol Police officers engaged in the chase when an individual suspected of killing Melvin McNair Jr., at Parham Bridges Park on Wednesday did not adhere to their commands to stop. “He was pursued over probably a 3-4 mile stretch in North Jackson,” Wade said.
The suspect, who is now in custody, was 19-year-old Daveon Lindsey, Wade said. The chief said that because of the nature of the crimes police suspected Lindsey of committing, officers determined at the time that a vehicle pursuit was justified.
“We have an individual who was a murder suspect, a capital murder suspect, a carjacking suspect. So we did pursue in that situation,” Wade continued. “Unfortunately, he was lawless. He would not stop for law enforcement, Jackson PD or Capitol Police and he crashed into a vehicle near Adkins (Blvd) and Beasley (Blvd).”
As Lindsey fled police, he struck the other motorist’s vehicle and eventually crashed into a utility pole near the intersection of Ridgewood Road and Adkins Boulevard, where police apprehended him, Wade said.
The incident happened weeks before the Capitol Police Department is set to expand its jurisdiction in Mississippi’s capital city.
Police Chases A Long-Contested Issue In Jackson
Mississippi House Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat who represents District House 68 in Jackson, has been a longtime opponent of police chases.
Summers and several other activists joined Jackson and Clinton residents in 2016 while speaking out for safer police practices after the death of Lonnie Blue Jr. Blue was heading home from work on March 21, 2021, when a suspected shoplifter fleeing Clinton Police crashed head-on into Blue’s car in the West Jackson area, killing him.
“There are ways to catch criminals other than the loss of life,” Summers said on March 25, 2016, after Blue’s death.
In 2022,