Domestic battery suspect dies in Bradenton crash after fleeing Manatee County Sheriff's Office deputies

After answering a domestic battery call on Prospect Avenue in Bradenton just before midnight Jan. 1, a Manatee County Sheriff's Office deputy began chasing a suspect who eventually crashed his car on Whitfield Avenue and died from injuries he sustained in the wreck.

A Sheriff's Office release on Saturday identified the man who died in the crash as Amir Keita Stevens, 30.

The report said Stevens was suspected of domestic battery by strangulation, robbery by sudden snatching, aggravated assault, and fleeing and attempting to elude law enforcement officers.

At 11:49 p.m., the Sheriff's Office received a call from a 26-year-old woman who said she fled a house on the 6400 block of Prospect Road after her boyfriend, Stevens, had threatened to get a gun and kill her and her 1-year-old son. After she fled, her 1-year-old son was still in the house with Stevens.

The woman ran to a neighbor's home, where she met deputies. Other deputies went to the house where the 1-year-old and Stevens were located.

As deputies approached, Stevens fled in a car. One deputy was able to chase the suspect in his patrol car, but could never get closer than 200 yards. The suspect fled southbound on Prospect to Whitfield Avenue, where he turned toward US 301. The suspect lost control of his vehicle, stuck a power pole and two trees. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The 1-year-old child was unharmed.

Deputies learned the suspect had choked the woman, who was 3 months pregnant, and battered her. However, the woman was not severely injured.

The investigation is ongoing.