ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Jan. 8 (UPI) -- A Florida man allegedly threw his 5-year-old daughter off a bridge early Thursday as a police officer who had been pursuing him watched.
Phoebe Jonchuck's body was found more than an hour later by an Eckerd College rescue team more than half a mile from the Dick Misener Bridge in St. Petersburg. She was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead at 3:20 a.m.
Police said the girl dropped more than 60 feet into the water.
Jon Nicholas Jonchuck Jr. of Tampa was arrested a short time later entering Interstate 75 driving the wrong way, police said. He faces charges that include first-degree murder.
The police officer said he began pursuing a PT Cruiser that passed him at about 100 mph. When the cruiser was near the crest of the bridge, he saw the driver stop, get out and take the girl from the back seat before hurling her off the bridge and then speeding off.
The officer said Jonchuck said something to him just before he threw his daughter over the railing, but he could not understand his words.
St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway said Jonchuck had custody of his daughter, and they both lived with his parents. Jonchuck, hours after his arrest, had given no indication of why he killed his daughter, Holloway said, and investigators had interviewed his parents and the girl's mother.
After police used stop sticks on Jonchuck's car, they had to break a window to get him out, Holloway said.
