Carjacker Chase Ends in Major Crash in Dallas

A high-speed Dallas police chase ended in a major crash Tuesday that had neighbors wondering whether chasing suspects is really worth it.

The chase ended at the intersection of South Marsalis and Ann Arbor avenues in South Oak Cliff at about 11:30 a.m.

"There was a lot of commotion, a lot of fire trucks and ambulances," neighbor Paige Montgomery said.

Dallas police said officers were pursuing four suspects from an earlier carjacking.

Firefighters with Dallas Fire-Rescue had to extricate at least one person from the suspects' vehicle after it rolled over in the intersection, and one person ran from the vehicle, but all four were taken into custody, police said.

Witness Hydia White was in another car on the street that was not involved in the wreck.

"My heart stopped. My first reaction was like, 'I hope everybody is OK,'" she said.

Six people were transported to area hospitals. Five of the injured had injuries that were not life-threatening, including the person rescued from the suspect vehicle.

The condition of the sixth person, who was driving a minivan, is not known.

One of the vehicles involved in the crash was a DART van. DART confirmed to NBC 5 the van is part of their para-transit service. No passengers were on board, and the DART driver was not injured.

Neighbors at the scene of the major accident debated the need for chasing suspects.

Marcy Gaston said police chases are too dangerous.

"You could have had kids out playing, walking to the store. It could have been me, just driving to get something," she said.

Neighbor Billy Chapple said police need to catch the criminals who prey on residents.

"They've got a job to do, and how are you going to do that if you just let somebody jack somebody for their car and they're going to do nothing about it? You got to do something," he said.

Witness Hydia White had mixed feelings after what she saw.

"You shouldn't let them go, but there should be a different solution to the problem," White said.

Dallas police have a restricted chase policy after fatal crashes involving innocent drivers in the past. Police are permitted only to chase armed felony suspects, and a very limited number of police vehicles are allowed to participate.

Surveillance video of the final moments showed just two police vehicles following the suspect vehicle when the crash occurred.

The entire incident remained under investigation Tuesday afternoon.