Mob Stones Fleeing Carjacker

Bystanders lobbed bricks and rocks at a stolen sport utility vehicle Monday, injuring a carjacking suspect who led police on a dangerous high-speed chase through the upper Florida Keys.

The suspect forced several motorists off U.S. Route 1 as he sped along at more than 100 mph, sheriff’s deputies said.

The televised chase covered at least 40 miles and ended after deputies spiked the vehicle’s tires, flattening them. The suspect, Gil Costello, 26, of Homestead, Fla., drove for miles on the rims, then pulled off the road and jumped out of the moving SUV, which rolled over his leg.

Bystanders threw rocks, bricks and even a bicycle at the white SUV as it sped past, said Monroe County sheriff’s spokeswoman Becky Herrin. Some of the debris shattered the driver’s window and hit him.

“People need to know that throwing items at the car was very dangerous,” Herrin said. “They could have hit another vehicle by accident, they could have hit a deputy, or they could have caused the fleeing vehicle to crash into another car. Someone could have been killed.”

Costello was charged with aggravated fleeing and eluding police.