An attempted traffic stop Wednesday evening in Baton Rouge led to a two-minute police chase, a hastily ditched illegally modified gun, and a crash that killed a 24-year-old woman.
Janae Fieldings, 24, died shortly after 10 p.m. when her Honda Accord crashed into the brick back wall of the Fast Stop convenience store on North Foster Drive while she was fleeing police, according to a news release from the Baton Rouge Police Department.
Fieldings was pronounced dead at the scene, and two other occupants in the vehicle were transported to a hospital with injuries.
Police said the pursuit began on Lobdell Avenue in the Melrose East neighborhood, when Fieldings allegedly refused to stop for an officer trying to pull her over and sped away.
During the brief pursuit, which took the Honda and BRPD cruiser from Lobdell Avenue to Greenwell Springs Road, someone inside the Honda threw a gun out the window, according to police. When the weapon was recovered, it was found to be a Glock handgun with a Machine Gun Conversion device.
Speeding down Greenwell Springs Road, the Honda lost control, hit a curb outside the Eden Park Branch parish library, struck a water main's aboveground valves and pipes, drove through and splintered a wooden fence and finally crashed into the back wall of the Fast Stop where it caught fire.
Landon Hubbard, 24, said he heard the screech of tires while sitting outside his Melrose East condominium Wednesday night, a block away from the accident.
"It was smoking," Hubbard said. "If you stayed on this street you could smell the coolant and oil in the air."
Hubbard approached the site, where he said he saw nearly 10 police cars responding to the crash.
Officers took Fieldings and the wounded occupants out of the car, then attempted to extinguish the burning car.
A spokesperson for the department was not able to tell The Advocate how many police cars were involved in the pursuit or how many ultimately responded to the crash.
The incident is under investigation, but the BRPD spokesperson said preliminary findings show that no officer broke department pursuit policies. More details, including the maximum speed of the fleeing Honda, are expected to be released following the investigation.
The officer who initiated the chase has been placed on administrative leave, as is department policy.
East Baton Rouge Parish Library's Eden Park Branch was closed Thursday due to having no running water after their water main was struck by Fieldings' vehicle.