Earlier this month, Cincinnati police officers chased a man downtown who was believed to be driving a stolen SUV while under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. The high-speed chase lasted nearly eight minutes and ended when the man crashed into a taxi, killing both people inside the cab. The SUV came to rest after hitting a parking meter and immediately caught on fire.

The driver of the SUV, a 39-year-old man, then left the burning vehicle and attempted to escape the police on foot. According to police reports, he left his injured passenger behind in the burning SUV.

The chase began when a police officer tried to pull the man over because the SUV he was driving had been reported as stolen a few days earlier. The fleeing suspect hit two women in a PT Cruiser when he ran a red light, causing the vehicle to hit a nearby taxi.

Both individuals in the taxi were killed. A 39-year-old Cincinnati woman was a passenger in the taxi and she was on her way to the train station in order to move in with and care for her elderly mother. The 33-year-old taxi driver was also killed in the accident. The 33-year-old man became a U.S. citizen last fall after emigrating from Mauritania in 1999.

Officers threw a stop stick in front of the stolen vehicle but it failed to stop the SUV before the crash.

Police officers indicated that this is suspect's second high-speed chase in the last 10 years and that he has a criminal record in Florida as well. Authorities said that he has spent the majority of the last 10 years serving a prison sentence in Kentucky.

The driver of the SUV is facing criminal charges. He may be facing additional civil lawsuits for wrongful death in the future.

Source: Cincinnati Enquirer, "Two killed when police chase ends in 'spectacular' crash," Eileen Kelley and Carrie Whitaker, 3/16/2011