HARVEY, La. - After a vehicle chase, a man traveling with a child in a vehicle crashed into a home, causing two homes catch fire and torching the car, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The man was later identified as Jonathan Manuel, 19, and police believe he was with his 4-year-old niece in the car.

The niece was taken to the hospital, police said, with no apparent injuries, and she was reunited with her family.

Manuel sped off after police saw him driving with the child standing on the front seat after a deputy turned on his lights to pull over the car.  Sheriff’s deputies found the car a short time later, piercing a home.

JPSO

Jonathan Manuel

“When he (the deputy) put his lights on, he noticed that the driver put the window down on the vehicle and immediately threw a weapon, a handgun, out of the car onto the street,” said Col. John Fortunato, JP Sheriff’s spokesman.

“He attempted to continue to following the car, and, at some point lost him before he came on to Eastview.”

The crash, according to witnesses, caused an explosion and scorching two homes.

Manuel was able to escape with the child, police said, adding that there were no injuries reported so far. Police are searching for him.

The accident occurred in the 2500 block of Eastview Drive in the Woodmere Subdivision.

“I was outside pressure watching the front of the house,” said one of the homeowners Lisa Leblanc, “and the next thing you know, I see the car snaking in the road going real, real fast and heard it hit Mr. Rodney’s garage.”

WWL-TV

The charred remains of the car.

“I thought it stopped, but, obviously it went between our two houses,” she said.  “My gas line is right there, so it hit the gas line and that was when there was an explosion.”

The explosion blew out Leblanc’s windows in her home and charred it as well.

“There were three explosions behind there,” said Rodney Broussard, the other homeowner, “and normally, I’m in this house.  But, thank God, I’m alive and I wasn’t there today.

Four people live inside the two homes, and the Red Cross are currently providing them with assistance.