Crazy chase ends with man jumping over wall and falling 25 feet off Beltway

A man behind the wheel of what Virginia State Police thought was a stolen Ford Expedition rammed two police vehicles on the Capital Beltway, lost control, slammed into a Jersey Wall and then ran across the interstate, jumped over another wall and fell 25 feet Wednesday night.

The man “fell through an open space between the local and through lanes. The man landed on rocks approximately 25 feet below the interstate,” according to a news release from Virginia State Police.

All of this happened around 7:45 p.m. on the Outer Loop.

The chase started near the Van Dorn Street exit and ended at U.S. Route 1 in Alexandria, not far from the Wilson Bridge, according to Virginia State Police.

The suspect sustained life-threatening injuries and was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital.

One of the troopers also was taken to the hospital for minor injuries.

It turned out that the Ford Expedition was not stolen, but that the license plates on it had been reported stolen in Maryland.

The chase and crash caused backups on the Beltway.

Colleen Kelleher

Colleen Kelleher is an award-winning journalist who has been with WTOP since 1996. Kelleher joined WTOP as the afternoon radio writer and night and weekend editor and made the move to WTOP.com in 2001. Now she works early mornings as the site's Senior Digital Editor.

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