Notes: Police say witnesses helped detain driver after car chase in Old Town

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Two men have been arrested with some help from the public after allegedly trying to run down a Virginia State Trooper, the Virginia State Police said in a release.

The release said a trooper located a stolen silver Kia Optima on Franklin Street in Old Town around 11 a.m. on Saturday morning:

The trooper exited his patrol car and approached the Kia. He gave verbal commands to the driver and passenger to exit the vehicle. The male driver, instead, drove directly towards the Virginia state trooper. The trooper was forced to jump out of the way to avoid being hit. The Kia then rammed the trooper’s patrol car, fled the scene and ran over a street sign as it turned onto S. Washington St.

The trooper returned to his vehicle and a pursuit was initiated. As they approached the intersection of Duke St., the trooper conducted a PIT maneuver and successfully contained and stopped the vehicle. As the Kia came to a stop, the driver and male passenger fled on foot.

Moments later the trooper caught up on foot with the passenger, a 30-year-old male from Washington, D.C. The trooper took the passenger into custody without further incident.

Two citizens who witnessed the incident ran after the driver, a 34-year-old male from Washington, D.C., and detained him without incident. An Alexandria Police Officer took him into custody.

The driver and passenger were transported to Alexandria Hospital for medical evaluation of non-life threatening injuries sustained during the vehicle collisions.

The incident remains ongoing and charges are pending against both men. The Kia had been reported stolen out of Washington, D.C.

Neither the Virginia state trooper nor his K9, which was in the patrol car when it was rammed by the stolen vehicle, was injured.

Photo via Virginia State Police/Facebook

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