An armed carjacking, a high-speed police chase through two Broward cities and a violent crash Thursday left one man hospitalized and his two friends in jail.
The carjacking and pistol whipping of victims happened outside a Wells Fargo bank on Hillsboro Boulevard at South Military Trail in Deerfield Beach.
Then just before midnight, Fort Lauderdale police alerted Plantation officers that they were chasing a stolen 2019 Mazda sedan from North State Road 7, according to police reports.
Officers followed the Mazda for about two miles to West Broward Boulevard and Royal Palm Court in Plantation, where it lost control and crashed into a concrete Florida Power & Light pole.
Three men were inside the Mazda when it crashed.
Lamar Mike Johnson, 18, of Fort Lauderdale was the driver, police said.
He ran from the wreck a few blocks north on Farmington Drive and into a shed in a backyard. A Fort Lauderdale police dog caught him, reports said.
Officers found a 9 mm bullet on Johnson, a Florida felon who was previously convicted of robbery. He is being sought by Miami-Dade authorities in connection with burglary and trespassing investigations, records show.
In the latest case, Johnson faces charges of unarmed burglary of an unoccupied structure; grand theft of a firearm; grand theft auto; carrying a concealed firearm; possession of a weapon or ammunition by a convicted Florida felon; resisting an officer without violence and aggravated fleeing with serious injury or death.
Markens Theophile, 18, of Coral Springs, was a passenger in the Mazda. Police found him sitting on a .38 handgun. They also found a fanny pack on the floorboard with another gun, which had been reported stolen, reports said.
Theophile also had a single 9 mm bullet. Fort Lauderdale police arrested him on suspicion of committing grand theft of a firearm; grand theft auto; carrying a concealed firearm and possession of Oxycodone.
The third man was not identified in police reports. He was described as being seriously injured during the crash and his condition was not stable early Friday morning.
Two residents in the area of the crash were without power for part of Friday as a new pole was put in place, said FP&L spokesman Richard Beltran.
“It is not common for these poles to come down or be damaged in a car crash,” Beltran said. “These poles can withstand hurricane force winds. This one was damaged but was not knocked down, so a new concrete pole is being installed.”
ljtrischitta@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4233 or Twitter @LindaTrischitta
ALSO