Several people were injured when a man suspected of hijacking a truck in New York led a pursuit in Loudoun County that ended in a four-vehicle collision early Saturday in Sterling, Virginia, according to authorities.
The incident began just before 8:30 a.m. at the Sheetz gas station in Dulles Plaza, where people called the sheriff’s office to report two unconscious men in a truck.
Deputies approached the truck and observed what they suspected were drugs and drug paraphernalia, according to the sheriff’s office.
It was then that the driver regained consciousness and accelerated, almost hitting two uniformed officers, authorities said.
The suspect fled down Shaw Road and turned onto Sterling Boulevard, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies said the driver then sped in the wrong direction on Sterling Boulevard near Maple Avenue and struck multiple cars until the truck eventually fell on its side in the median.
“I have four vehicles here in the accident. Two possible injuries,” an agent is heard saying on the dispatch audio.
In all, four people suffered injuries, including the suspect, identified as 27-year-old Justin Connor, and his passenger. All four received medical care at area hospitals, the sheriff’s office said.
While the uniformed officers arrested Connor, a dog he was carrying in the truck bit one of the officers, according to authorities.
Agents said they discovered after the arrest that the vehicle Connor was driving had been reported stolen in New York.
Connor, a resident of Rochester, New York, faces charges of driving while intoxicated, assault on a law enforcement officer, larceny, obstruction of justice, evasion, driving without a license and providing a false identity to authorities.
He is being held in Loudoun County without bail.
The sheriff’s office reported that it has not filed charges against the passenger inside the vehicle at this time.
