Four injured in brief police chase

Published 9:58 pm Monday, October 26, 2009

A downtown-area police chase that ended in a crash Sunday night left two police officers, the suspect and a passenger injured, according to police reports.

Marcus Hunt, 33, of Orchard Street in Franklin was arrested and charged with 10 crimes after the vehicle police say he was driving crashed into a light pole, Suffolk spokesperson Debbie George said Monday.

The incident began at about 8:07 p.m., when a Suffolk police officer saw the vehicle driving in a reckless manner and with a defective light through the intersection of W. Washington Street and Military Road, George said.

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The officer turned on his lights and siren, and the vehicle “took off,” she said.

The officer pursued the fleeing suspect along Washington Street, where the vehicle struck three city-owned black iron planters along the side of the road and then ran into a city-owned black iron light pole before stopping at Liberty Street.

The suspect then bailed out of the car and ran into the industrial area. He was apprehended behind the Birdsong Peanut Warehouse, George said. His passenger remained in the car after it stopped.

Both the suspect and his passenger were transported to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, where they were treated for injuries that were not considered to be life-threatening, according to George.

Two police officers also were injured in the foot chase when they fell, she said. One wound up with a fractured right hand, and the other had a sprained ankle. Both officers were transported to Sentara Obici Memorial Hospital, where they were treated and released.

Hunt has been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, obstructing justice, resisting arrest, felony eluding, defective equipment, having a dangling object in a vehicle, failure to wear a seat belt, driving with a suspended operator’s license, hit and run with property damage and failure to stop at a stoplight.