Authorities say two people were killed in a head-on collision following a police pursuit of a stolen vehicle Friday afternoon in Midlothian.
According to the Ellis County Sheriff's Office, they were notified by the Waxahachie Police Department of a white van that had been reported stolen from an Academy parking lot in Waxahachie.
A sheriff's deputy spotted the van on Farm-to-Market Road 879 near Farm-to-Market Road 1722 and attempted to pull it over, but the driver continued. During the pursuit, the van ran one law enforcement patrol unit off the road, with no injuries reported, the sheriff's office said.
The van turned northbound onto U.S. Highway 287, and near the Mid-Way Airport the driver cut over to the southbound lanes but continued driving north. Meanwhile, units from the Ellis County Sheriff's Office and Waxahachie police remained in the northbound lanes.
Just before 2 p.m. the van struck a Dodge pickup truck head-on in the southbound lanes, killing the driver of the pickup truck and the driver of the van.
Officials have not released the identities of the two people who died, and the crash remains under investigation by the Midlothian Police Department.
A section of Highway 287 was closed for about two hours after the crash, and reopened at about 4 p.m.
