BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - POLICE are on the hunt for a driver who ran a checkpoint and abandoned his vehicle following a high-speed chase in La Valley area on Sunday night (Nov. 10).
News of the incident broke in the early hours of the following day, but was only confirmed by the police on Tuesday evening in a statement.
According to the statement, “On November 10, 2019, police were carrying out a routine vehicle checkpoint on the main road in the La Valley area sometime around 11:15 p.m. when a vehicle sped recklessly through the checkpoint without stopping.”
It noted that an officer had to take evasive action to avoid being hit by the vehicle.
According to the police, “Officers set chase and caught up with the vehicle, however, the driver kept going.”
During the chase, police said that “responding to what the Officers believed to be gunshots, they returned fire”.
Police further said that the vehicle came to a halt “after a tire was blown out by an Officer” and the driver jumped from the vehicle and escape in the dark into a nearby bushy area.
In the statement, the police neither provided a description of the vehicle nor indicated if the suspect or any officer was injured during the shootout.
This is the second time in almost a year that perpetrators had made good their escape from the police during a vehicle chase in St. Kitts.
Back in January, the police chased after a vehicle within which several suspects had opened fire on a group of young men in the St. Paul’s area.
Police reported in a statement that they intervened to halt the attack and a number of shots were fired at the car from which the perpetrators exited.
Also in that statement, police said the car fled the scene and they gave chase and intercepted the vehicle in Christ Church, but the occupants exited the vehicle and made their escape on foot.
