Fatal Crash During Chase

police564-55
police564-55

The Berrien County Sheriff’s Department says a 24-year-old Berrien County man is dead following a chase with police that ended in a crash. Deputies tell us it started around 5:30 p.m. Friday when a report came in of a possible drunk driver. A deputy spotted the vehicle in question in Niles and tried to pull it over, but it took off at a high rate of speed. The sheriff’s department tells us during the chase, the driver of the vehicle made several erratic maneuvers and exceeded 100 miles per hour on some stretches of Niles-Buchanan Road. He eventually lost control on westbound Niles-Buchanan Road west of Mayflower Road, left the north side of the road, and hit a tree. The driver, identified as David Lee Bross Jr., was pronounced dead at a South Bend Hospital. The Berrien  County Sheriff’s Department tells us the pursuing deputy did not have sight of the fleeing vehicle at the time of the crash and the deputy only saw the dust cloud caused by the vehicle leaving the road and hitting the tree. The crash remains under investigation.