Lantana man crashes into car

A police chase in Delray Beach on Tuesday night led to a crash that left a woman hospitalized in critical condition.

Brenton Davon McCray, 30, faces several charges including hit and run, reckless driving resulting in serious bodily injury and marijuana possession after he sped through a stop sign and slammed into a 1995 Toyota Corolla driven by Marie Guillaume.

Guillaume needed to be extricated from her car and was transported to Delray Beach Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, police said. Michael Theodore, Guillaume’s 12-year-old son, was also hurt in the crash, but the extent of his injuries was not immediately known.

According to an arrest report, Delray Beach police attempted to make a traffic stop after noticing that McCray, driving a 2006 Infinity M45 sedan, was not wearing a seat belt.

When police officers activated their car’s emergency lights,

McCray took off eastbound on Northeast 5th Street, quickly accelerating in excess of 50 mph in a 25 mph zone.

McCray, of Lantana, blew through a stop sign at the intersection of Northeast 5th Street and Northeast 2nd Avenue, colliding with the Corolla.

The impact of the crash caused the Infinity to strike an FP&L power pole, snapping it in two and knocking out power to the surrounding area.

“When the driver realized the officer was trying to initiate a stop, he sped away at a very high rate of speed over a short distance before he crashed into the second vehicle.” Guerrero said. “The officer never had an opportunity to get behind the vehicle or follow the vehicle because it happened so quickly.”

Despite sustaining undisclosed injuries, McCray jumped out of his vehicle and tried to run away, ignoring commands to stop. About four minutes later, police apprehended McCray at 101 Dixie Boulevard.

A search of McCray’s car turned up a “small bag” of marijuana, police said.

McCray was taken to Bethesda Hospital with undisclosed injuries before he was transported to the Delray Beach police station. McCray told police he tried to elude them because he was driving with a suspended license and admitted the marijuana found in the car was his.

McCray has a long criminal history, including more than 20 arrests on charges ranging from robbery to fraud to drug possession, and has served time in prison twice. In June, 2007, McCray was convicted on three charges of eluding police and sentenced to two years but served only 11 months before being released in January, 2009. He was back in prison in March, 2010 after being sentenced to 2 years, 5 months on drug charges. McCray was released in May, 2011. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.hmhid.com.