Leavenworth ? Three people who died in a car accident in Leavenworth had been pursued minutes earlier on accusations they stole a $5 steak, police said.

Henry W. Miller III, 55; Olga J. Wilson, 54; and George B. Burton Jr., 43, all of Leavenworth, died in the accident Saturday. Police had been pursuing the car after the shoplifting incident was reported at a small grocery store in Platte County, Mo.

“This was just a misdemeanor theft,” Platte City police Sgt. Dennis Trabue said Monday. “We would have been handling this matter in the municipal court.”

Trabue said a woman had entered the store, picked up a $5.12 T-bone steak and shoved it down her blouse, then headed for the exit. After being confronted by the owner, the woman and a man ran out of the store and sped off in a car.

A police officer saw the car in Leavenworth and stopped it. As the officer was waiting to report the traffic stop, the car sped off, Leavenworth Police Lt. Pat Kitchens said.

The officer stopped the pursuit after about a block. No one was pursuing the car when it crashed several minutes later.

Kitchens said the vehicle crashed when it met an oncoming car. The driver of that car swerved off the road and was not injured. Miller lost control of his car, which flipped over and struck a tree.