A stolen SUV carrying four individuals met a tragic end in a fiery crash in Maryland after the driver attempted to evade a traffic stop and ultimately collided with a tree, as disclosed by the police on Sunday.

The victims’ identities, ages, and genders remained unknown due to the severity of their burn injuries, according to a news release from the Prince George’s County Police department, which provided additional information about the Friday crash in Mitchellville.

The sequence of events began with officers’ attempt to pull over a Kia Sorento with expired temporary tags around 7:30 p.m. on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

Roughly four minutes later, based on an account from an “independent witness,” the police reported that the Kia’s driver utilized the shoulder of the road to overtake, lost control, and collided with the tree.

The Maryland attorney general’s office concluded that this incident did not fall within the parameters of an officer-involved fatality, as stated in the news release.

It’s worth noting that the crash site was more than 2 miles (approximately 3 kilometers) away from the initial attempted traffic stop.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the vehicle in question had been stolen during an armed carjacking earlier in the city of Greenbelt, according to the news release.

Written by staff