Virginia State Police are investigating a crash that killed one man and seriously injured two others when a car being pursued by authorities ran off a Dinwiddie County road and struck a tree.
Sgt. Thomas J. Molnar said the driver of the 2008 Chevrolet Impala ignored police orders to stop at a traffic checkpoint Tuesday evening on state Route 40 and led authorities on a chase that lasted about five minutes and covered about 4 miles before it ended when the car went off Double Branch Road and struck an embankment and a tree.
Darius Cox, 20, of the 22000 block of Swan Circle in Petersburg, a back-seat passenger, was ejected from the car and died at the scene, Molnar said.
The driver, Jamal Hall, 24, of the 25000 block of Smith Grove Road, also in Petersburg, was flown by helicopter to VCU Medical Center in Richmond for treatment of injuries that Molnar said were life-threatening.
The front-seat passenger, James Manson Jr., 24, of the 16000 block of Wilkerson Road in Dinwiddie, was taken by ambulance to Southside Regional Medical Center for treatment of injuries that Molnar said were serious but not life-threatening.
Molnar said none of the three men in the car was wearing a seat belt.
Molnar said the chain of events began about 6:30 p.m. when Hall approached a traffic checking detail that was being conducted by the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office on Route 40 near the state Route 665 intersection.
As Hall approached the traffic stop, he ignored the deputies who verbally directed and motioned him to stop, electing instead to speed through the checkpoint, Molnar said. Deputies initiated their emergency equipment and pursued the driver, who reached speeds in excess of 80 mph, he said.
Hall was eastbound on Double Branch Road when he lost control, and the Impala went off the right side of the road before hitting an embankment and then a tree, Molnar said.
The Virginia State Police Accident Reconstruction Team is overseeing the investigation.
Molnar said Hall faces charges from state police and the Dinwiddie County Sheriff's Office.
Copyright 2013 - Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
