Winter Garden, FL : Man fleeing traffic stop hits, kills Winter Garden teen early Monday, April 10, 2017

A 19-year-old Winter Garden man was killed in a crash early Monday after a man ran a red light and fled Lake County deputies, officials said.

Carlos Sanchez Santiago died in the crash, which was reported at 1:27 a.m. on West Colonial Drive at Oakland Avenue in Oakland.

The FHP said a two-door Ford driven by Darius Wilvenson, 23, of Groveland, was headed east on Colonial and made a left turn onto Oakland Avenue. Wilvenson's car traveled into the westbound lanes of Colonial Drive and crashed into Santiago's two-door Nissan, troopers said.

Santiago was pronounced dead at the scene, troopers said.

The Lake County Sheriff's Office said Wilvenson was spotted early Monday running a red light at U.S. Highway 27 and Washington Street in Minneola.

"The deputy pursued this subject at what was, like, 1:15 in the morning, when he saw him blow through the red light. I'll tell you, at that time of night in the early morning hours it's not uncommon for deputies to come across drunk drivers out there," Lake County Sheriff's Office Lt. John Herrell said.

A deputy tried to pull over Wilvenson's car, but he failed to stop and drove into Orange County, officials said.

The deputy stopped pursuing Wilvenson at the Orange County line, and Wilvenson's vehicle crashed about a half-mile later, the Lake County Sheriff's Office said.

"They have to constantly be evaluating the circumstances of the pursuit and if at any time the speeds get to a point where it outweighs the importance of the offense that they are believed to have committed then the deputy needs to step back and I believe that's what he was doing at that point." Herrell said.

Deputies said Wilvenson was armed with a handgun, driving on a suspended license and had active warrants for his arrest on traffic charges. Deputies said they found hree different driver's licenses were found, all with Wilvenson's picture but a different name on each one.

Wilvenson was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, but he was not seriously injured, according to troopers.

Source :
Man fleeing traffic stop hits, kills Winter Garden teen, deputies say