WASHINGTON — A D.C. man is in custody and faces multiple charges after leading Fairfax County police officers in a car chase and crashing into two police cars Saturday afternoon.
A police officer noticed a car speeding and driving recklessly near the intersection of Little River Turnpike and Columbia Road Saturday at around 4:50 p.m. The officer tried to stop the car, but it fled, according to a news release from Fairfax County police.
More officers responded to the area. The car then started traveling against traffic on Little River Turnpike for a short distance before returning to the right side of the road.
The driver, Edward Jerome Butler Jr., 32, continued to ignore the police cars behind him. He made a U-turn on Little River Turnpike near Pinecrest Vista Drive and hit a police car, “almost head on,” according to the news release. Butler continued over the center median and then drove westbound in the eastbound lanes of Little River Turnpike.
Officers tried to stop the chase using the precision immobilization technique, which sent Butler’s vehicle into a spin. However, he regained control of the car and drove head-on into another police car, disabling it. Officers then blocked Butler’s vehicle with multiple police cars.
Butler then got out of the car and ran away, but officers chased after him and took him into custody.
He resisted arrest, did not follow police commands and police say it took more than one officer to control and get handcuffs on him.
Butler has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor hit-and-run, reckless driving, possession of marijuana, window tint violation, resisting arrest, attempted malicious wounding, assault on a law enforcement officer, felony hit and run and felony speed to elude.
No one was injured as a result of the incident.
Butler is being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center with no bond.
Below is a map of where the police chase started.
