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Police find pounds of drugs after high-speed chase ends with Mercedes flipping into yard

Posted at 7:57 PM, Jun 30, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-30 23:49:43-04

CAROLINE COUNTY, Va. -- Law enforcement sources tell WTVR CBS 6 News that troopers found pounds of drugs as well as cash and guns inside a car that flipped multiple times after the driver led troopers on a high-speed that started on I-95 in Spotsylvania County and ended in the yard of a home along Route 1 in Caroline County Thursday afternoon.

Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne N. Geller said a trooper was monitoring traffic along the interstate in Spotsylvania County at 4:50 p.m. when a Mercedes traveling northbound clocked the trooper’s radar at 85 mph.

"The trooper pulled onto the Interstate and activated his lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop on the Mercedes," Geller said. "The driver of the Mercedes refused to stop and sped away at a high rate of the speed. The Mercedes got off of I-95 at Exit 118, continued to US Route 1 and headed south in excess of 100 mph."

Geller said the driver lost control, ran off the road and hit an embankment before the car overturned multiple times.

Officials said the male driver and two male passengers, who were transported to Mary Washington Hospital, suffered serious injuries.

No one else was hurt in the incident.

Officials said the incident remains under investigation and that they expect to release additional information soon.

There has been no word yet on the specific charges the driver is facing.

Reporter Witnesses Chase

WTVR CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett was headed to cover another story in Spotsylvania County when he spotted the chase near I-95 in Thornburg.

“I can tell you firsthand this Mercedes passed me on the other side of a double yellow line… The Mercedes passed me going the wrong way down the street, across the double line, took a left on Route 1 South. Ten seconds later a trooper came by. He followed and gave pursuit.”

Neighbors and witnesses said the car hit a ditch before it flipped three to four times, skid on its roof and then flipped again before coming to rest in the yard of a home.

A witness said that when the car wrecked, two men jumped out of the car and ran to the woods

Neighbors said they could hear the driver screaming for help.

Burkett said police sources told him they discovered pounds of marijuana, heroin and close to pounds of crack cocaine inside the car. Additionally, troopers found money as well as two guns.