4 Florida teens killed after high-speed police chase crashes into pole

Jabril Chevers and Lawrence McClendon Jr. were both taken to a hospital, where they later died. Two other teenagers died on impact

Four teenagers died after crashing into a utility pole in Waldo, Florida on Saturday, April 20, WCJB and Main Street Daily News reports.

At the time of the crash, the teenagers — who ranged in age from 14 to 17 — were involved in a high-speed chase involving Florida State Troopers. After authorities responded to the scene, two of the boys were identified as Jabril Chevers and Lawrence McClendon Jr. Both were taken to UF Health Shands in Gainesville, Fla., but both died from their injuries.

The other two victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

GoFundMe pages have been set up on behalf of McLendon and Chevers’ families to raise money for funeral expenses.

“Jabril was a loving son, brother and friend with a kind heart and a spirit that touched everyone around him,” reads the description of Chevers’ GoFundMe page.

McLendon was a sophomore defensive back on his high school football team. “Lawrence was a great kid to have in our program,” Ed Johnson, Newberry’s head football coach, told the Main Street Daily News. “As a footballer, he was competitive, talented and relentless, with a knack for making big plays. He will be truly missed by everyone in the Panther football family.”

McClendon’s older brother, Jermaine Godbolt, an 18-year-old from Newberry, was shot and killed last month, according to McClendon’s GoFundMe.

Related: 2 Teens Die After Stolen Car Overturns Amid Houston Police Chase

Bradford County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Col. Brad Smith told the Main Street Daily News on April 25 that the crash happened after the Gainesville Police Department reported a stolen Honda CRV driving east on State Road 100.

The Bradford patrol unit then located the car and began pursuing it, which quickly led to a car chase.

“(The stolen vehicle) started to pull over to the side of the road, but before it came to a complete stop, they accelerated again and that’s when the pursuit began,” Smith told the Main Street Daily News.

But Bradford County deputies ended their pursuit because they couldn’t keep up with the vehicle, which was at the end of the county line. “Our vehicles can’t match the speed they were going, but we continued to have one of our units try to stay as close as possible as a backup unit to the FHP until the Alachua County units were able to catch up to them,” Smith said. . The Main Street Daily News reports that Bradford County deputies’ vehicles have reached a top speed of 111 mph.

However, a Florida Highway Patrol trooper was able to keep up and “identified that some of the occupants appeared to be wearing ski masks,” according to an FHP news release, Main Street Daily News reports.

“The trooper made intentional contact with the Honda, causing it to decelerate,” the FHP statement continued. “The trooper used break speed to perform a precision immobilization technique (PIT maneuver) on the fleeing Honda to stop the threat posed by the fleeing suspect. The Honda then overturned before making contact with a cement pillar.”

Alachua County Firefighters then arrived on scene and noted that the Honda was “wrapped around a concrete utility pole.” It then took more than an hour and a half to remove the four victims.

A criminal investigation into the crash is ongoing, the FHP said, the Main Street Daily News reports.

Related: 5 teens dead, including 4 co-workers, after car crashes into Florida pond: ‘tragic loss’

After the accident, Newberry High School Principal James Sheppard shared a message with students and parents, writing on April 23: “It is with great sadness that I share with the two Newberry High School students who were involved in a serious car accident this past weekend. now they have died of their wounds.”

In addition, pain counselors and trauma specialists remained at the school all of last week.

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Representatives of the Florida Highway Patrol, Newbury High School, the Alachua County Fire Department and the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information Monday.

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