VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- One person is in police custody this morning after a pedestrian was hit and killed by a car that officers were trying to stop Monday night on Northampton Boulevard.
The crash happened shortly before 11 p.m. near Baker Road as police pursued the vehicle after attempting to stop it on South Military Highway near the city line at Norfolk, said Sgt. Brian Ricardo, a police spokesman.
The pedestrian, described as an adult male, died at the scene and his name was being withheld by police until his relatives could be contacted.
Ricardo said that earlier Monday night, officers in the Fourth Precinct had been briefed about a robbery suspect in another city who may have been in Virginia Beach. At 10:42 p.m., an officer saw a vehicle matching the description of the suspect's parked near South Military Highway and the city line with Chesapeake. No one was inside.
A few minutes later, a man got inside the vehicle and drove north on Military Highway. When officers tried to stop the car, it kept going north. Officers followed the vehicle into Norfolk where it turned onto Northampton Boulevard and the pedestrian was struck, Ricardo said.
The vehicle that was being pursued kept going and officers stopped to help the pedestrian, Ricardo said.
Norfolk police later found the vehicle abandoned at Norview Avenue and North Military Highway.
Some time later, Norfolk police got a call from a man who said he went to get into his van and found a man sleeping inside, Ricardo said. Norfolk officers took the man into custody and he was being taken to Virginia Beach Police Headquarters to be interviewed.
Copyright 2012 - The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
