TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A 5-year-old girl has died after her mother led police on a high-speed chase and crashed into a retention pond in Jacksonville, multiple news outlets reported.
According to First Coast News, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said police were called to investigate a reported kidnapping on the city’s Northside around 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
The caller said a woman, later identified as 32-year-old Pamela Cabrera, was armed with a knife and kidnapped a 5-year-old girl. The child was identified as Cabrera’s daughter, according to ActionNewsJax.
As police responded to the scene, an officer spotted Cabrera’s car and tried to conduct a traffic stop, but she fled and a chase ensued that spanned about 30 miles. Police said they reached speeds up to 90 mph during the chase.
Police said Cabrera tried to exit Interstate 95 when her vehicle crashed into a retention pond. Multiple officers jumped out of their vehicles and waded into the pond to rescue Cabrera and the child, and a dive team was called to the scene.
“The child was, unfortunately, located at the bottom of the pond, deceased,” Officer Christian Hancock, the public information officer with the sheriff’s office told News4Jax.
Cabrera was taken to an area hospital for treatment, then booked into a Duval County jail on charges of vehicular homicide, eluding police and assaulting a police officer. She is being held without bond.
Online jail records show Cabrera has previous arrests in Hillsborough County on charges of battery and spitting on a police officer.