Police chase part of investigation into wrong-way crash near Hollywood Florida

The Florida Highway Patrol is investigating whether Opa-locka Police pursued onto Interstate 95 a wrong-way driver who smashed head on into a Kia Sorento, killing four people.Opa-locka Police said Wednesday that the officer stopped pursuing Willie Dumel, 25, of North Miami Beach, when Dumel traveled the wrong way onto the highway.But a police-dispatch audio tape, obtained by the news media, may imply the police pursuit continued as Dumel drove north in the southbound lanes of I-95.

"He's going against traffic on I-95," a man says in the recording, according to an WFOR-Ch. 4 report. "We're going northbound in the southbound lane."Opa-locka's Assistant City Manager David Chiverton said the department has asked for its own copy, and "anything that is on that tape will be reviewed also."FHP said the pursuit is part of its probe."We're investigating the accident, and if it reveals the chase contributed to it, that will be a civil matter between the victims and Opa-locka Police," FHP Trooper Joe Sanchez said Thursday.

Two of the four victims killed in the crash were in the U.S. military and were siblings, FHP and a U.S. Navy official said Thursday.The Highway Patrol identified the victims as driver Dennis Ryan Rinon Ortiz, 33; Albertson Anthony Almase, 31, who was in the U.S. Navy; Almase's sister, Kristina A. Almase, 26, also affiliated with the military; and Lily Marie Azarcon, 26.
They died at the scene.A family friend of Ortiz's said all four originally were from the Philippines. FHP said the Almases resided in Fort Lauderdale.As their families grieved, the State Attorney's Office in Miami-Dade County was consulting with the Florida Highway Patrol about possible charges against Dumel, officials said.
Dumel is accused of traveling north in the southbound lanes of I-95 and crashing just north of Ives Dairy Road with the victims' 2013 Kia Sorento, FHP said.

Dumel was recovering Thursday at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood from surgery after being seriously injured in the crash. He was being guarded by law enforcement, officials said.
Opa-locka Police said their six-mile pursuit of Dumel's 2013 Chevrolet Suburban SUV began in that city at Northwest 22nd Avenue and continued north on I-95, then traveled west along Ives Dairy Road.
An officer witnessed Dumel tossing a weapon from his car, and it was recovered, Opa-locka Police said.