Police tried to make a traffic stop. Two people in the car ended up dead, cops say

A speeding driver fleeing from deputies lost control of his car and slammed into a tree in Bradenton on Thursday evening, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office. The driver and his passenger were killed.

The incident started about 7:40 p.m. when a deputy who was conducting radar surveillance in the 2600 block of 26th Street West clocked a northbound car moving at 51 mph in a 30 mph zone, according to sheriff’s spokesman Dave Bristow.

The car turned east on 18th Avenue West and when the deputy tried to make a traffic stop.

“We activated our lights and started to get behind him,” Bristow said, “then he sped away and crashed into the tree.,” in the 1600 block of 22nd Street West.

The driver, later identified as Sebastien Daniel Antoine, 23, died at the scene. The passenger, Rufus Lee Adams IV, 20, was taken to Manatee Memorial Hospital where he later died.

Several neighbors said they heard a loud “boom” around the time of the crash.

Antoine had an active warrant out of Sarasota County for failure to appear, according to Bristow.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office traffic homicide unit is investigating the crash, Bristow said.

This story was originally published September 6, 2018 at 8:27 PM.