2 Children Left Dead After Stolen Cop Cruiser Crashes Outside Library
A terrifying incident in Dayton, Ohio, Monday night has left two children dead and multiple people injured in what can only be described as an unbelievable chain of events. According to Dayton police, a man suspected in a stabbing stole a police police cruiser and then sped away, before slamming the cruiser into two parked cars carrying 11 people, including children.
The chaos began just after 7 p.m., when police responded to a call about a man who reportedly stabbed his father in the city's Twin Towers neighborhood.
When they arrived, cops learned the suspect had fled the scene and was nowhere to be found.
Yet just moments later, a second 911 call came in, WLWT reports. This time, it was about a car that had driven into a tree in nearby Riverside, just seven miles east. And -- you guessed it -- the driver was none other than the stabbing suspect from the first incident.
That's when things get even crazier.
When the police officer arrived at the crash site, he left the vehicle to evaluate the scene -- just as the suspect hopped in his cruiser.
But he didn't make off without a fight.
"The officer tased him at point-blank range," John Poston, who shot cellphone footage of the incident, told CBS News. "The guy still ended up getting in the driver's seat, driving it backward up the street, turning a corner with it. From there, he drove into the other police [vehicle]."
As he did, he scraped and banged the car along anything that came in its path.
"It was very loud. It was like a crash and bam," one witness said. "There was car parts flying all over the street."
It sounds like something out of an action film, but according to witnesses, that's exactly what happened. And just three minutes later, it ended in tragedy.
The suspect, who has not yet been identified, slammed the cruiser into two parked cars outside the Dayton Public Library.
"All of a sudden, I turn my head, look around, boom! Just like that," a witness recalled.
The cars were reportedly carrying 11 people between them, including seven children. And their injuries were not minor, either: All 11 passengers were rushed to hospitals, three of whom were in critical condition at the time, including the two who later died, said Lt. Col. Eric Henderson of the Dayton Police Department.
__"__I heard someone scream, 'Kids are in the car!' and jumped out to do my best and try to get as many of the kids out of the van as I could," Denorris Hopgood told CBS, adding that the van seats pinned some of the children inside, making it harder to get to them. "It was difficult to see what was inside the van, and see the kids in the condition that they were in," he said.
Two officers also sustained minor injuries when the suspect struck their vehicle, as did the suspect.
The two children who died have since been identified as Eleanor McBride and Penelope Jasko, both just 6 years old.
"Obviously, this is a tragic incident that occurred in a very short time frame," Henderson said.
Police were expected to release more information Tuesday. In the meantime, the victims' families are left grappling with the senseless tragedy, which comes just weeks after Dayton was rocked by a shooting spree that left nine dead.