Car Chases

Law enforcement still were on the scene on Avalon Avenue in front of Southgate Shopping Center into the evening, so details on the number of people injured and extent of those injuries were not immediately available.

An Air-Evac Lifeteam helicopter did land at the scene and flew away with one crash victim, and at least two ambulances left the scene earlier apparently heading to nearby Helen Keller Hospital.

Muscle Shoals police issued a press release Tuesday evening stating Tuscumbia police were notified of a stolen vehicle out of Mississippi that was traveling on U.S. Highway 72 in Tuscumbia.

A Tuscumbia officer located the vehicle a few minutes later near Woodward Avenue and Sixth Street traveling northbound in the Muscle Shoals city limits, according to the release.

The officer attempted a traffic stop at Woodward and Avalon, but the motorist fled and turned west onto Avalon Avenue.

"A Muscle Shoals officer spotted the pursuit and  attempted to assist the Tuscumbia officer," the release states. "However, as the stolen vehicle reached the intersection of Avalon Avenue and Broadway Avenue, the stolen vehicle crashed into three other vehicles. This ended the pursuit."

Troopers with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency are in charge of the investigation, the release said.

Witnesses said police immediately surrounded the driver of a white pickup with their weapons drawn that was in the crash.

"I heard a crash and looked out," said Abreana Rhodes, who was inside a store across from the shopping center when it occurred. "About five or six cops came at him with guns and one said, 'Put your hands up.' I ran back into the store. When everything was OK, I came back out. It was definitely something."

The hoods of a dark-colored truck and golden-silver truck still were engaged following a collision that landed them in the eastbound lane of Avalon Avenue with the dark truck facing eastward and golden one westward.

The white truck was east of them in the eastbound lane with significant damage to the front.

A red sedan was east of those vehicles in the middle of the intersection of Avalon and Broadway, facing eastward.

Debris was scattered among the vehicles as onlookers took photos and videos with their cellphones.

Law enforcement, including Muscle Shoals and Tuscumbia police and troopers, blocked off that portion of Avalon Avenue while they investigated.

"I heard like three booms," Rhodes said. "It just happened so fast."

Kayla Weaver said she was backing her vehicle into a parking lot off Avalon Avenue when the incident unfolded.

"As I backed in, this gold truck was in the air," Weaver said. "It put chills in my body."

She said the initial hit involved the white truck, but her vision was blocked from seeing what it hit.

Another witness had just gotten in his vehicle in a parking lot on the other side of Avalon Avenue when he saw the white truck and another vehicle collide.

"It just hit the vehicle head-on, and dust and debris and everything was up in the air," he said.

Officers immediately converged on the truck, the witness said.

"As soon as police got out, they went to that white truck with guns drawn," he said.

The witness said the scene shook him up.

"It looked rough," he said. "That would have been any of us just sitting there at the red light."