COLUMBIA, S.C. — A man is in custody, and a woman is critically injured after a crash involving a pursued vehicle in Sumter County on Friday night.
Sumter Police said that around 8:30 p.m., an officer identified a vehicle on North Guignard Drive tied to an ongoing metal theft investigation. Police said a chase followed, but the suspect vehicle, an SUV, rolled over and crashed near the corner of Alice Drive and Wesmark Boulevard.
The crash threw a 56-year-old former Florida resident from the vehicle. She was airlifted to a Columbia hospital where, as of Saturday afternoon, she remains in critical condition. The driver, later identified as 47-year-old Michael Charles Rose of Sumter, escaped any serious injury and was able to get out of the SUV and run.
A search by city officers and county deputies led to his arrest in the woods near Meadow Circle. Police said Rose faces charges of driving under suspension and failure to stop for blue lights involving an accident with great bodily injury. The department said he also faces a felony charge of driving under the influence from the South Carolina Highway Patrol, with the results of a blood-alcohol test still pending. He is being held at the Sumter County Detention Center.
The South Carolina Highway Patrol's Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) is investigating the crash.
