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SUV fleeing from Titusville police crashes into car

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — A run from the law ended with a wild crash in Brevard County, and with several innocent people getting hurt, police said.

Police said three suspected car thieves refused to stop when they were spotted by an officer in Titusville late Monday morning.

Titusville police said a red SUV was one of four cars reported stolen around Country Club Boulevard overnight. They said the driver was trying to evade police and took off. When another officer spotted it a short time later he threw stop sticks on the ground.

Investigators said the driver of the stolen car swerved to avoid the stop sticks, went off the road, swerved back into oncoming traffic and then struck the victims' SUV head on.

The SUV flipped onto its side. Two of the people in the car that was struck were rushed to a local hospital and are expected to be OK.

"We were heading down Park Avenue and the red SUV ran us off the road," witness Tatianna Steffl said.

Steffl said within minutes after the SUV nearly struck them, they drove up to the scene.

Police arrested two people and a third suspect was taken to the hospital. The other suspects are being questioned at police headquarters.

Police said they believe the men may have been involved in at least four car thefts overnight and believe they could be part of a group of thieves who have been stealing cars in the area for several months.

"Police said it was a local gang from Titusville. When they flew past us, kids were getting on the school bus. I mean that was really scary," Steffl said.

An eyewitness told police the suspects threw something in the woods after the crash, but police said they didn't find anything significant.