Man leads deputies on wild chase through Fort Pierce before ramming car into tree, getting shot

ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. -  An SUV shows the telltale signs of a wild ride. There are at least 7 bullet holes in its side.

It is the vehicle a man in his 30s was driving Wednesday morning when deputies tried to pull him over on Delaware Avenue.

He proceeded to run through a number of stop signs, and red lights… and at one point cut across a school playground.

"Thank God there were no children on the playground when he did this," said Chief Deputy Garry Wilson with the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.

The driver eventually headed down South 13th Street, right towards Nora Summerlin's home.  Summerlin was in the kitchen and heard the sirens.

"Kind of looked out the window and saw this SUV coming towards the house.  I thought it hit the house.  The SUV backed up into one of the deputy's cars and then they started shooting.  My grandson said 'Nana we need to get to the back of the house,' " said Summerlin.

"All of a sudden I heard bam, bam, bam, bam, bam and it was quite clear it was gunshots in front of my house," added neighbor Kevin Frazier.

The driver was shot, but still kept going.

"So I looked out my window and saw a vehicle going by with the window smashed out," said Kevin Carter who also lives nearby.

The driver only got another block, before jumping out of the SUV and running, where he was caught behind a home.  At this point, investigators are trying to figure out why a simple traffic stop proved to be anything but that.

"To deliberately hit two of our patrol vehicles in the process and then back up on the deputies when they are trying to order him out of the car.  He put the deputies lives in danger and they did what they had to do," said Chief Deputy Wilson.

Neither the names of the driver nor the deputies have been released but the deputies are on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The driver is hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.