An Orange Beach traffic stop and report of a pedestrian being hit turned into a fatal crash into the Intracoastal Waterway by Tacky Jacks in Gulf Shores early Friday morning.

Orange Beach Police responded to Cumberland Farms, 23679 Canal Road, for reports of a vehicle striking a pedestrian, according to a press release from OBPD Lt. Trent Johnson. As officers arrived, a witness identified the suspect vehicle, and when they tried to conduct an investigatory traffic stop, the vehicle fled west on Canal Road, Johnson wrote.

“The suspect reached an excessive speed at which time the pursuing officer remained engaged at a safe distance in an attempt to keep eyes on the vehicle,” he wrote. “The suspect vehicle was unable to negotiate the 90-degree turn at Tacky Jacks in Gulf Shores and crashed.”

Gulf Shores Police Department Detective Carl Wittstruck said the incident happened around 1:24 a.m. and that the vehicle went through the guard rail at the intersection of E. 2nd St. and crashed into the water. Johnson also said the vehicle came to a rest submerged.

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency Sgt. Jeremy Burkett said in a news release Friday afternoon that the driver who died was 21-year-old Brooks H. Kaechele, of Elberta. According to ALEA, the agency that took the lead on the investigation, Kaechele's 2008 Mitsubishi Eclipse left the roadway during the pursuit, stuck a guardrail, several posted traffic signs, several trees, a wooden deck, a wooden boardwalk and boardwalk poles before overturning in the ICW. According to ALEA, he was not wearing a seatbelt.

Johnson said officers located the lights of the vehicle underwater and “entered in an attempt to save the driver but were unsuccessful.”

It is not yet clear if a pedestrian was hit in Orange Beach and, if so, his or her status.