UPDATE: Virginia Beach police identified the suspect arrested as 45-year-old Patrick Nilo Gil, of New York. Police say he is charged with reckless driving, eluding police and two counts of felonious assault.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE (Feb. 23):
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A suspect led police on a high speed chase from the Eastern Shore across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to Hampton Roads on Friday afternoon, before hitting a snag at another bridge-tunnel system, the infamous bottleneck that is the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
Police blocked off the westbound lanes on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel around 3:30 p.m. to stop the suspect, who had eluded police for nearly an hour.
Cheriton Police Chief Marc Marshall said his officers first attempted to stop a silver Mercedes SUV with New Jersey tags around 2:37 p.m. for driving recklessly on Route 13 in Northampton County.
The SUV then took off heading south, traveling roughly 14 miles along Route 13 toward the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, eluding both Cheriton Police and Northampton County deputies.
“The last high speed i saw on my speedometer was 107,” Marshall said.
When it reached the CBBT, the SUV broke through a toll gate and continued at high speeds across the more than 17-mile stretch that connects the Eastern Shore to Virginia Beach.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Police said they attempted to stop the vehicle, but backed off because the driver was traveling at speeds around 100 mph. At one point, the suspect driver attempted to hit a CBBT police officer who was out of his vehicle, according to Virginia Beach Police. CBBT Police said no spikes were set on the bridge-tunnel during the pursuit.
“The officers from the bridge tried to box him in and pin him down. he blasted through the orange safety barrels,” Marshall said. “We didn’t want someone to end up in the water so we backed off.”
However, when the suspect got off the CBBT, Virginia Beach Police were waiting with stop sticks on Northampton Boulevard. The driver was able to dodge those stop sticks and continued on Northampton Boulevard at high speeds, getting past two more sets of stop sticks.
The suspect then got onto I-64 and headed toward the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, with Virginia Beach Police and Virginia State Troopers in pursuit.
Police then mobilized at the HRBT and deployed another set of stop sticks, which successfully stopped the suspect vehicle. Police say the vehicle kept moving into the westbound tunnel after hitting the trap, causing a multi-vehicle crash.
The driver of the vehicle was then taken into custody. Police say they’re still trying to identify the driver, but will charge him with multiple violations, including two attempts of malicious wounding, felony eluding, reckless driving, driving without a license and other registration violations. They say additional charges are pending.
VDOT said traffic was diverted off I-64 West at the 4th View Street exit in Norfolk. Lanes reopened on I-64 West around 4:10 p.m., according to VDOT.
Police haven’t said if there were any major injuries, and are still investigating at this time.
“It’s very dangerous. he’s putting himself, the lives of officers and every single vehicle which he passed in a reckless manner, he put everyone’s life in danger,” Marshall said.
Stay with WAVY.com for updates.
