An Escambia County deputy sheriff’s office patrol vehicle was struck by a Beatrice man who was fleeing from authorities on Tuesday night, according to the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office.

Major Anthony Lowery said in a release that at approximately 9 p.m. on July 31, the BCSO received a mutual aid request from the ECSO for a vehicle pursuit that began in Monroe County.

“The suspect was thought to be armed with a high-powered rifle and had exchanged gunfire with law enforcement as well as intentionally ramming a sheriff’s office vehicle in Escambia County,” Lowery said. “The vehicle being pursued was a ‘Bobtail’ tractor southbound on Interstate 65 and was about to enter Baldwin County.”

Lowery said BCSO deputies joined the pursuit of the truck near the county line, and then requested assistance from the Bay Minette Police Department.

“Gun fire continued on I-65 in Baldwin County to the Highway 287 overpass, where Bay Minette officers were able to engage the suspect vehicle,” he said.

Lowery said the truck then continued south onto General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge.

“While being pursued over the bridge, the truck slowed and the driver’s side door opened and closed multiple times,” Lowery said. “The truck ultimately came to rest on the downslope of the bridge in Mobile County with the driver’s door open. The suspect was believed to be inside the cab. Deputies approached the truck and found it empty and the suspect missing.”
Requests for Alabama Law Enforcement Agency marine and air assets were immediately made through Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office dispatch, he said.

“A search was done and the suspect was located underneath the bridge,” Lowery said. “Medical personnel responded to the scene and pronounced the suspect, Rico Ricardo Crosby, 27, of Beatrice, deceased.”

A preliminary investigation revealed that Crosby stole the truck from Scotch Plywood in Beatrice before being contacted by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office near Monroeville, where the pursuit began, Lowery said in the release.

Crosby’s cause of death is blunt force trauma and internal injuries, Lowery said, and Crosby was not impacted by gunfire.

The Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation into Crosby’s death along with cooperation of numerous agencies involved in the case. This investigation will be ongoing.

Chief Deputy Mike Lambert said the deputy that was hit during the pursuit is all good.