WISE, VA : 1 dead after high-speed chase ends in wrong-way crash in Wise County on Wednesday, 12th June 2024

One person has died after a high-speed chase ended in a head-on crash in Wise County on Wednesday, according to authorities.

The Wise County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to a be on the lookout call regarding a chase that began in Hazard, Kentucky. The BOLO alleged that the people in the vehicle were involved in a theft prior to the pursuit in Kentucky. The vehicle was described as a silver Audi vehicle with North Carolina license plates. Kentucky law enforcement agencies ended their pursuit at the Virginia/Kentucky state line.

Deputies saw the vehicle on U.S. Route 23 southbound in Pound. Authorities said the driver accelerated at a high rate of speed and weaved through traffic before a police chase began.

A short time later, the driver crossed the median and began to drive south in the northbound lane of Route 23, authorities said. The vehicle narrowly avoided several other vehicles, "causing a deadly threat to the public and all motorists on the roadway and at times traveling south on the northbound gravel shoulder," according to a news release from the Wise County Sheriff's Office and the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office for Wise County and the City of Norton.

The deputy tried to end the pursuit and struck the vehicle, however the vehicle did not stop and the driver was able to maintain control, evading police, authorities added.

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