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Police sources: SUV registered to ex-NBA star involved in West End hit-and-run

Posted at 1:00 PM, Feb 09, 2014
and last updated 2014-02-09 19:54:42-05

HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) -- Police sources said an SUV belonging to former Detroit Piston and Virginia Union basketball star Ben Wallace crashed into a fence outside a home in Henrico County early Saturday morning.

Silverio Acosta said he dialed 911 after he heard a loud boom around 2 a.m. at his home off Gaskins Rd. near Peppertree Dr.

When Acosta went outside to see what happened, he found pieces of his fence, which butts up to Gaskins Rd., scattered throughout his yard.

“It was dark, but it's clear from here I saw one person trying to fight to get out of the car,” Acosta said.

That’s when Acosta said he saw a man pick up and smash pieces of wood against the fence “because he was angry.”

Police said the SUV, which was left at the accident scene, took out a 20-foot section of the fence.

Multiple police sources told CBS 6 News that the vehicle belongs to former NBA All-Star Ben Wallace.

Additionally, Acosta said that police found an expired insurance card inside the vehicle and that they gave him a piece of paper listing Ben and Chanda Wallace as the policyholders.

CBS 6 went to the gated Goochland neighborhood listed as an address for Wallace's wife to try to ask the former basketball star about the wrecked SUV. But the number listed for Wallace on the call box would not dial through.

Wallace pleaded guilty to drunken driving and weapon possession charges stemming from an incident just outside of Detroit in 2011.

Henrico police, who are investigating the wreck as a felony hit-and-run, would not confirm on the record that the vehicle belongs to Wallace.

Acosta said he would not have recognized Wallace since he is not a basketball fan. He said the man was very tall, but admitted that he could not see the fleeing driver’s face.

Acosta is not upset about the fence, but said he is angry because whoever was driving the SUV ran away.

"If he would have killed somebody right there; he would have walked away, and he doesn't care,” Acosta said.

CBS 6 also called and left messages with lawyers who represented Wallace in the past.

Craig Cooley said that he once represented Wallace for a traffic violation, but has no information about this incident.

Police said that this is an ongoing investigation and that no has been charged at this point.