Arab News 

Jeddah, Mar 6:  Police have launched an inquiry into the death of a suspected thief, who was accidentally shot dead by officers following a car chase at around 3.30 a.m. on Tuesday in the Al-Safa District of the city close to the Jeddah Eye Hospital.

The youth was wanted in connection with the snatching of a woman’s purse in the Al-Bawadi District at around midnight on Monday.

A Jeddah police source said officers were on the lookout for a blue Toyota Echo carrying three youths, which was spotted at around 3 a.m.

Police ordered the driver of the car to stop, which he failed to do, resulting in a high-speed chase through several Jeddah suburbs.

“Officers fired two warning shots in the air but the driver continued to ignore the calls. ... We’re investigating the incident. The suspects were in their late teens,” said Col. Suleiman Al-Gherar, official spokesman for Jeddah police. Al-Gherar said the youths were drunk.

Police fired a number of shots at the vehicle, one of which went through a rear light and hit a front seat passenger.

“We heard a loud screech and then the sound of a car crashing at around 4 a.m. The sound woke up half the neighborhood,” said Abdul Aziz Al-Rasheed, a local resident.

“I looked out the window and saw a blue Toyota Echo with its tires flattened. ... A police car was parked behind the car with one officer inside. There were two passengers inside talking to each other, while the police officer remained seated in his car,” he said.

“Minutes later seven to eight patrol cars arrived. When they opened the front passenger door, a youth wearing black pants with no shirt collapsed on to the ground,” he added.

An ambulance came and took the injured youth, who later died, said another witness.

“I overheard the officers saying they were taking him to Al-Jedani Hospital. He appeared alive in the ambulance as one of his hands was raised upward. A lot of blood was coming out from the back of his head. The seat was soaked in blood as well,” said Muhammad Bahashwan, a high school student.

Al-Rasheed said another passenger, who was in the back seat and wearing a white shirt and jeans, was taken into custody. Eyewitnesses said that police then beat up the driver, who was dressed in a sleeveless night thobe and looked to be in his late teens.

Officers also took pictures of the driver seated in the car. “They even took a picture of him while he was throwing out a cigarette butt. He appeared to be heavily drunk,” said Bahashwan.

Residents who live close to the place where the car crashed said they did not hear any shots being fired. However, Col. Al-Gherar told Arab News that the shots were fired much earlier and that the driver did not stop or notice that one of his passengers had been hit.