MARTINSBURG, WV : Va. man charged with DUI in fatal W.Va. crash on Wednesday, 1st January, 2020

A Virginia man was charged early New Year’s Day after a crash just after midnight on Interstate 81 that resulted in a woman’s death, Berkeley County Sheriff Curtis Keller said.

Cody Braithwaite, 32, of Winchester, Va., was charged with driving under the influence with death, fleeing DUI, felony possession of a firearm and being a fugitive from justice in connection with the 12:27 a.m. crash, Keller said.

The name of the woman who died was being withheld Wednesday pending notification of next of kin, he said.

Dispatchers originally received numerous calls about a reckless driver, and police eventually located Braithwaite, who was driving a 2004 Jeep with a Virginia license plate, getting on the interstate, Keller said.

A deputy saw the man get on southbound I-81 at the 16-mile marker near the Edwin Miller Boulevard exit, and he attempted a traffic stop about two miles later, Keller said.

The vehicle sped up and nearly crash into a truck, he said.

“After passing the truck, the suspect struck a 2016 Chevrolet from the Inwood area,” he said. “The collision forced the Chevrolet into the guardrail under the King Street underpass bridge. The jeep went left and struck the deputy’s cruiser.”

The driver of the Chevrolet was pronounced dead at the scene, Keller said.

Braithwaite then fled the crash scene and continued southbound, he said.

“He eventually was stopped ... near the 8-mile marker. where he was captured by other units,” he said.

Braithwaite was being held Wednesday night at Eastern Regional Jail near Martinsburg.


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