5 in custody after attempted carjacking, police chase ends with crash in Northeast Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Five people are in custody after an attempted carjacking and police pursuit in Northeast Philadelphia Sunday night.

Police say they first started chasing a white Dodge Durango with suspects believed to be involved in an attempted carjacking near Friends Hospital.

The chase ended with a wreck at the intersection of Roosevelt Boulevard and Whitaker Avenue around midnight, when the Durango crashed into a Ford Explorer.

Action News spoke with the owner of that Ford Explorer on Monday afternoon.

Scott Hughes said after driving for Uber on Sunday night, he picked up his friend. The pair attempted to turn off Adams Avenue near Roosevelt Boulevard.

"We were coming onto the Boulevard, and right there on the Boulevard is where they hit the car," he said. "Literally I was just turning, and boom, I got smacked."

Hughes said when he got out of his car, "the cops were a little busy detaining the suspects and stuff, so I had to wait for maybe 10 minutes for what was going on."

Police said the suspects' white Dodge Durango was reported as stolen.

Officers arrested a 15-year-old male driver at the scene of the crash.

Following the collision, four additional male suspects -- aged 16, 15, 18, and 11-- fled northbound into the property of Friends Hospital, according to police. They were arrested a short time later.

At least one of the suspects taken into custody was armed, said police.

Hughes is now without a car after buying it a month ago to commute to work and drive for Uber.

"We definitely stopped them for whatever pursuit they were doing. I don't know, maybe they would have caught them. Maybe they wouldn't. We definitely got in the way, to say the least," Hughes said.