Police Helicopter Assists in Pursuit

At 12:58 a.m. on Wednesday, February 3, a patrol officer from the West Springfield District Station was northbound on Rolling Road near Barta Road when he observed a 2001 Lexus being operated with expired state license plates. The officer activated his emergency lights and sounded his siren in an attempt to make a stop of the vehicle.  The vehicle immediately turned onto the Fairfax County Parkway and increased its speed; actively disregarding the officer’s signal to stop. The suspect vehicle eventually made its way to I-95, where it entered the northbound lanes traveling southbound. In accordance with Virginia Code and our policy, no police vehicles followed the vehicle into oncoming traffic.

Several minutes later, a separate patrol unit located the vehicle now traveling north on I-95 in the proper lanes. Fairfax County patrol units again engaged in a traffic pursuit with the vehicle, which continued from I-95 north, onto I-495 north toward the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. As the pursuit neared the Maryland line, our police helicopter, Fairfax 1, arrived overhead.  Prior to the pursuit entering Maryland, our ground patrol units terminated their pursuit as Fairfax 1 continued to follow the vehicle and coordinated with police agencies in both Maryland and the District of Columbia.

The vehicle eventually stopped in the District on the Anacostia Freeway, south of East Capital Street. Four subjects fled from the vehicle and the helicopter was able to guide United States Park Police units to three of the four occupants, who were all detained. The initial pursuing Fairfax County officer responded to the location to obtain suspect information from Park Police officers. The three subjects were identified and released by the United States Park Police.

During the course of the pursuit there were no crashes and no injuries.

The Fairfax County investigation will continue, to determine the identity of the driver of the fleeing vehicle.

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