{"id":104979,"date":"2026-02-04T15:32:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/104979\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T15:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T15:32:26","slug":"driver-killed-in-crash-while-fleeing-deputies-has-been-identified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/104979\/","title":{"rendered":"Driver killed in crash while fleeing deputies has been identified"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"EX6A6GIGSJF4NCPU6JU25E5D5U\">Syracuse, N.Y. \u2014 A man killed early Tuesday when a stolen minivan crashed into a telephone pole in Syracuse has been identified, deputies said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HWTDWP6FSVCTXCCOLBPNMK3O7Y\">Taijon M. Williams, 31, of Syracuse, was driving the minivan when it crashed on Erie Boulevard while he was fleeing Onondaga County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies, according to Thomas Newton, a Sheriff\u2019s Office spokesperson. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"A4YRLXD4LNEUTIE6ETXRXQ73WQ\">The fatal crash stemmed from a traffic stop by Syracuse police shortly before 2:30 a.m. in the 700 block of Grand Avenue, according to Kieran Coffey, a Syracuse Police Department spokesperson. Officers stopped the minivan because it had been reported stolen.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"OX3ESIIMS5GVPJZH52AVOT3B34\">While officers were waiting for another city police unit to arrive, the minivan fled, Coffey said. Syracuse police did not pursue the vehicle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"IY4KCBNVJNBQ3HURRV6OKIXOPA\">A city officer reported that a sheriff\u2019s deputy patrol car initiated a pursuit almost simultaneously after the vehicle fled, Coffey said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4OAIREQX6JEYBB2BM2JCPTVWZ4\">Deputies saw the stolen minivan in the area and attempted to stop it on Avery Avenue, Newton said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"4B7N2NFXG5HMVBPKQH5HWE56PQ\">The minivan continued east on West Genesee Street before turning onto Erie Boulevard West, where the driver lost control while negotiating a curve and hit a telephone pole near 1008 Erie Blvd., Newton said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7YM6KHFDRJFUDOT356UWA7JKYU\">Williams was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"E5Z6LIZTVBF4TDGUZDSGGY3BLU\">A woman who was a passenger in the minivan was ejected during the crash and taken to Upstate University Hospital with minor injuries, Newton said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"EBWWO6R5BBCRFMFMR3LBJNKIHI\">Erie Boulevard was closed for nearly eight hours following the crash. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"XJLKR6Z6RFAWHMJIEGVGSZ7MLY\">The Attorney General\u2019s Office of Special Investigations is conducting a preliminary assessment, as required in any incident involving police and a death.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"low\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"National Grid works to repair a power line and telephone pole near 1008 Erie Boulevard West where a car crashed and a man died following a vehicle pursuit involving the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.\" class=\"article__image-content\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/UGN2AJQZOJE4LLX22RXTJGQW5E.JPEG\"  \/>National Grid works to repair a power line and telephone pole near 1008 Erie Boulevard West where a car crashed and a man died following a vehicle pursuit involving the Onondaga County Sheriff&#8217;s Office around 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.Finn Lincoln<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syracuse, N.Y. \u2014 A man killed early Tuesday when a stolen minivan crashed into a telephone pole in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-104979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}