Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 17, 1993 TAG: 9311170208
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN and TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The chase ended when the taxi rammed a Christiansburg police car at the top of Christiansburg Mountain on U.S. 460.
Marcus Deangelo Williamson of Christiansburg, who police said had two handguns within reach, was taken from the taxi and forced to the ground by police.
Williamson was admitted to Montgomery Regional Hospital, where he was being treated for an accidental, apparently self-inflicted, gunshot wound to his left leg.
Williamson, 21, faces charges of abduction, malicious wounding, unlawful use of a firearm and possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, said Christiansburg Police Lt. Doug Marrs.
Blacksburg police expect to charge Williamson with carjacking and using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Montgomery County may enter various traffic charges after consulting with the commonwealth's attorney's office.
Skip Schwab, assistant commonwealth's attorney, said Williamson was in Montgomery County General District Court on Tuesday morning for a felony shoplifting charge. But court officials did not have the necessary record of prior convictions, so the case was dismissed with plans to pursue a direct indictment from a grand jury.
Williamson previously had been convicted of a drug charge in Montgomery County, authorities said.
Schwab said Williamson was out of court at about 11:30 a.m. and probably was released from Montgomery County Jail shortly afterward.
Marrs said Williamson is suspected of abducting Darryl Scott Barker, 19, and Kelley W. Collins, 21, as they were getting into their car on Calhoun Street in Christiansburg on Tuesday afternoon.
Williamson got into the car, and Barker was shot in the side as the car traveled in the Stone Street area, Marrs said. Collins managed to get out of the car and run for help, Marrs said.
Barker was treated at Montgomery Regional Hospital and released, a nursing supervisor said.
Police believe Williamson left the scene on foot and called a Christiansburg cab, which picked him up several minutes later on Depot Street, Marrs said.
Blacksburg police became involved when the cab driver, Dewey Edward Moore, flagged down a patrol car in the area of South Main Street about 3:40 p.m.
Capt. William H. Brown said Moore, 73, told police he had brought Williamson to Blacksburg but was returning him to Christiansburg because the person he came to see was not home. As the cab passed the Wilco station on South Main Street, Brown said, Moore asked Williamson to pay him for the fare. Moore said the man appeared to be reaching for money, but instead pulled out a gun.
Williamson shot himself in the left leg, Brown said, but Moore feared the man was shooting at him.
Moore "just throwed it in park and jumped out," Brown said.
Brown said Williamson then took the wheel and drove the taxi to the Ellett Valley area.
Sgt. Curtis Cook of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office was heading home when he heard of the stolen cab. He spotted it just after it had run into the back of a pickup truck at the intersection of Den Hill Road and U.S. 460.
"The man in the truck got out to say something to him, but he got around him and started toward Salem on 460," Cook said.
Cook and other county and state authorities then began pursuit through Elliston, into Roanoke County, past the Virginia State Police headquarters and just into Salem. Then, the driver of the cab reversed direction and headed back to Christiansburg.
"I tell you, that's the darndest chase I've ever been on in my life," Cook said.
"How he kept from wrecking, I just have no idea," Cook said, "because he was running cars off the road left and right all the way to Salem."
The pursuit ended after the cab struck a Christiansburg patrol car driven by Officer Terry Griffith.
Nelson Troutt, co-owner of Christiansburg Taxi, said Moore was "nervous and tore up" but otherwise all right. Moore has driven taxis for him for 18 years, Troutt said.
Troutt and his wife, Alice, operate taxi services in Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Radford.
Troutt said "not in 29 years" of business had anything like this happened to one of his drivers.
Staff writer Ron Brown contributed to this story.
by CNB