Dangerous high-speed pursuit ends with driver jumping off 50-foot bridge into river

LEE COUNTY, Fla. (KABC) -- The driver of a stolen minivan led Florida officers on a dangerous high-speed pursuit.

In shocking video provided by authorities in Florida, the driver can be seen losing control on a bridge high over the Caloosahatchee River, as a sheriff's chopper captures it all.

The driver slams into one wall, sending up a shower of sparks. He then careens all the way across the bridge and hits the other wall before the van finally skids to a stop.

That's when the driver jumps out of the totaled van and runs over to the edge of the bridge, quickly stepping over the bridge's safety rail, just as pursuing units pull onto the crash scene. As a deputy runs toward him, the pursuit driver takes a big dive, plummeting more than 50 feet to the water below.

He makes a big splash and vanishes into the water.

As more deputies arrived at the crash scene, the sheriff's chopper changes its position, maneuvering to the other side of the bridge. That's when the man is spotted again, his head, just visible above the water.

A sheriff's department rescue boat quickly arrives on the scene and a couple of deputies are able to fish the man out of the water. Paramedics then took him to a hospital to be checked out.

The man has since been charged with fleeing, eluding and grand theft auto.