COVINGTON, La. -- An off-duty Covington police officer and a female passenger suffered serious injuries in a car crash that ejected the two from a vehicle, police said.
State Police spokesman Nick Manale said 26-year-old Jason Cortez was driving with 23-year-old Brittany Thornhill on La. 21 around 2 a.m. Sunday when they came to a checkpoint. St. Tammany Sheriff's Office deputies were searching for an escaped inmate at the time. Cortez initially stopped at the beginning of the checkpoint, but after he was waved through, Manale said, he sped off at a "high rate of speed."
Deputies tried to catch up with Cortez, who was driving a 2008 Ford Mustang, but he lost control of the vehicle and drove off the road, sending them into the air and into a utility pole. First responders found that in the crash Cortez and Thornhill were ejected from the vehicle, and the Mustang broke the pole in half during the crash.
Both Cortez and Thornhill are being treated for severe injuries.
Manale said police expect alcohol and speed to be a factor in the crash. A urine and blood sample was taken from Cortez, and charges are pending the investigation.
