A dramatic police chase went tearing through DC neighborhoods today - and it was caught by News4 cameras.
Tisha Thompson saw the chase unfold, including the stream of at least 20 police cars trailing the suspect's car.
Police sources said that a Maryland State Trooper was patroling for stolen cars along 495 when a silver Crown Victoria sped by. The trooper's in-car computer indicated the Crown Vic was a stolen car.
"At approximately 11:30 this morning there was a vehicle traveling southbound on the Baltimore Washington Parkway in the area of 410," said Sgt. Paul Brooks of the U.S. Park Police. "It was checked and confirmed to be a stolen vehicle."
The chase that followed took off towards the Baltimore Washington Parkway, across the Frederick Douglass Bridge and then back across the 11th Street Bridge into Southeast.
That's when News4 cameras - and Thompson - caught up with the action. The silver Crown Victoria flew by on Wheeler Avenue with at least 20 police cars in pursuit.
Over and over again, the suspect circled through the residential neighborhood along Alabama Avenue between Wheeler Road and 15th Street.
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Police sources tell News4 that onlookers actually jumped out into the street between the suspect's vehicle and the police cars, while others appeared to be cheering on the suspect.
News4 saw him again when he came down 13th Street onto Savannah Street.
The driver finally crashed at South Capitol Street and Mississippi Avenue, slamming into this black Honda driven by a man in a Domino's Pizza uniform.
Witnesses say the fleeing car hit the Honda so hard, it popped the black car into the air.
"I just heard a boom and he got out of the car and [the driver] started running," said witness Kamilah Mason.
Witnesses say they saw a police dog take down the suspect about a half a block away. Obviously hurt but defiantly yelling at the police, Ronnell Anthony Blakeney, 22, from Halethorpe Md., was bumded into a U.S. Park Police cruiser and hauled off to jail.
He's facing several charges, including assaulting a police officer, unauthorized use of a vehicle and reckless driving.
