Suspected impaired driver of RV escapes troopers after hit-and-run

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. (WWSB) - The driver of a motorhome has eluded troopers after a wild chase Sunday on Alligator Alley, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

Troopers were alerted to a reported hit-and-run crash shortly after 10 p.m. on southbound Alligator Alley, at mile marker 94. A short time later, troopers located the suspected vehicle -- a full-size motorhome -- with a possibly impaired driver, leading south on Interstate 75, five miles away.

Troopers attempted a traffic stop but the motorhome failed to stop. They deployed stop sticks at multiple locations along Interstate 75, puncturing all of the vehicles’ tires. The driver refused to stop and continued to travel south on Interstate 75 on tire rims only.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office managed to finally stop the suspect with a “PIT maneuver, which caused the motorhome to veer off the roadway, collide with a fence and come to a stop on the grass shoulder.

The driver refused to leave the motorhome and it soon because engulfed in flames. The subject exited, fled into the Everglades and remains at large.

No other occupants or injuries were reported, investigators said.

The incident remains under investigation.