FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Austin Thomas was sleeping peacefully at his home on Saturday night, when suddenly he heard a loud noise.
“We were asleep. There was a loud explosion sounding outside,” Thomas said.
He later found out that the sound was a result of a 20-year-old driver, who crashed into three vehicles and a RV at around 1:00 a.m.
Surveillance video shows several officers following that suspect into the neighborhood moments after the crash.
Fairfax County Police admits there was a short chase in the neighborhood on Martha Washington Street, after the driver of a BMW made an illegal turn.
According to the police department’s policy, “pursuit supervisors must always balance the need for immediate apprehension with the danger created by the pursuit.”
In this case, Thomas believes the chase put lives at risk.
“It’s not safe to have a hundred mile per hour chase throughout the neighborhood,” Thomas said.
At one point the suspect narrowly missed a young woman, who was riding her bike.
Thomas talked to officers after the crash.
“When you factor in, what’s more valuable, the pursuit of someone who is suspected of DUI or the lives that could’ve been damaged or the property that was damaged or if it wasn’t those vehicle, it would’ve gone through a house, the way this neighborhood is setup,” he said. “So if it didn’t hit those four vehicles, the first tree and the two trees on the top of the trailer, who knows where he would end up.”
Fairfax County police are still investigating the incident.
Charges are pending for the driver of the BMW.
“He could’ve stopped, I don’t know what was running through his head,” Thomas said.
As previously scheduled, before the crash, Fairfax will take another look at their pursuit policy in December 2022.
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