A police pursuit created a traffic mess on northbound Interstate 395 in Virginia during rush hour on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
The chase ended at Edsall Road, where several police cruisers are at the scene and traffic backed up for miles.
The chase started shortly before 5 p.m. Thursday when the car of a Virginia State Police trooper stopped on the shoulder of northbound Interstate 95 in Prince William County to assist another trooper with a traffic stop was struck by a black Chevrolet Malibu that fled the scene, Virginia State Police said.
The struck trooper pursued the Malibu and caught up in Fairfax County just south of the mixing bowl in Springfield, according to Virginia State Police.
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The driver of the Malibu then rammed the trooper’s car, forcing it off the road, pinning it to the Jersey wall and causing it to flip on its side, police said. The Malibu left the scene again.
The suspect vehicle continued northbound on Interstate 95, then got onto northbound I-395, police said.
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A few minutes after 5 p.m., Fairfax County officers responded and saw the Malibu and pursed it with Virginia State Police, Fairfax County police said.
Chopper4 was over the chase as the Malibu hit several other vehicles and finally the express lane gates before crashing into the median at on 395 at Edsall Road.
Police took the driver into custody. Douglas Johnson Jr., 31, of Maryland, was charged with felony speed to elude.
Video from Chopper4 showed no lanes of traffic getting by for a time before the right lane opened about 5:30 p.m. A second right lane has since reopened.
Two right lanes on I-95 in Lorton were closed where the cruiser overturned.
The trooper in the overturned car was transported to a hospital as a precautionary measure, police said. He was wearing a seatbelt.
