MOUNT HERMON, VA : A high-speed police pursuit ended with a single-car wreck on Tuesday, 27th March 2018

A high-speed police pursuit ended with a single-car wreck that knocked down a utility pole and power lines and sent two men to the hospital Tuesday evening, Virginia State Police reported.

It all started at about 6:50 p.m. on Franklin Turnpike.

That’s when Virginia State Police Senior Trooper William Barnes said he got behind a white BMW sedan.

“I turned my lights on and that’s when he kicked it,” Barnes told the Register & Bee at the scene.

The trooper then alerted state police dispatch about the pursuit.

“He was going about 75 or 80 then,” Barnes said. “I did all I could to stay safe.”

The chase eventually ended on Iris Lane when the vehicle crashed into a utility pole bringing down power lines.

“I heard the car hit the pole,” said Jack Cosner, who was visiting his sister, Sharon, on Iris Lane. “The car went that way, and the pole went down to the ground, all in one shot.”

Police reported once the suspected driver, identified as Anthony J. Wilson, of Blairs, got out of the car, he fled into the woods. He was captured a short time later by Pittsylvania County Sheriff’s Office deputies and state police.

When he emerged from the woods with authorities, the suspect was observed with a bloody shirt and part of his jawbone poking through his cheek.

Barnes said the car was still smoking when the suspect ran.

It took more than two hours for Mount Hermon Fire and Rescue volunteers to cut passenger Isaiah Boyd out of the car.

The impact of the crash was so severe that state police originally thought he had been seated in the backseat. However, it was later revealed he had been in the front passenger seat.

Wilson was escorted to an ambulance and transported to SOVAH-Health Danville. Boyd was transported by helicopter for specialist care to an unknown hospital.

A day earlier, there a Pittsylvania County school bus was involved in a wreck with two other vehicles, on the same road. The three-vehicle collision happened at 7:25 a.m. near 651 Iris Lane, Pittsylvania County School Superintendent Dr. Mark Jones reported Monday.

“This is a very bad spot,” neighbor Sharon Cosner said. “We built this house in 63 and I can’t tell you how many hit poles, trees, corners, skidmarks… I think this is the worst.”

Source :
Two hurt as police pursuit ends in crash; ‘I turned my lights on and that’s when he kicked it,’ trooper says