Memphis police say police pursuit ‘may have occurred’ before fatal crash

A police pursuit “may have occurred” before a car crash that killed a woman and injured four others, including a child, Memphis police tweeted Saturday.

The pursuit “has not been confirmed,” the Memphis Police Department tweeted, adding that the Tennessee Highway Patrol has been called in to investigate “out of an abundance of caution.”

It was unclear from the tweet whether police pursued one or both vehicles involved the crash, why a pursuit may have occurred, why a police pursuit “has not been confirmed” or whether one of the vehicles involved in the crash was a police car.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol said it would provide more information once it becomes available.

Initially, in a tweet shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday, Memphis police described the incident as a one-vehicle crash but later changed course. The crash occurred around 2:54 a.m. at Ethel Street and Park Avenue, police tweeted.

It was only in an update later Saturday that a possible police chase was mentioned. That update said the first vehicle involved in the crash contained four people: a woman who was pronounced dead on the scene, a man and woman who were taken to Regional One Health (the woman in critical condition and the man in non-critical condition) and a female child taken to LeBonheur Children’s Hospital in critical condition.

The driver of the second vehicle was taken to Regional One Health and is listed as non-critical, police tweeted.

Katherine Burgess covers government and religion. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Police say pursuit ‘may have occurred’ before fatal crash