EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — An auxiliary police officer is dead after falling 50 feet during a foot pursuit across an East St. Louis bridge.

Authorities say 44-year-old Ricardo Davis apparently didn’t realize there was not solid footing between the two spans he tried to jump across on Saturday afternoon.

Davis and other Washington Park police officers were involved in a vehicle chase when the car they were pursuing struck several vehicles on the Poplar Street Bridge. When the two suspects jumped out of the car and ran away, Davis ran after them. He fell and was later pronounced dead at an area hospital. The suspects were arrested.

Davis was an unpaid auxiliary police officer in Washington Park and was about to begin the police academy in the hopes of joining the force.