THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 17, 1995 TAG: 9509170038
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
A 15-year-old Norfolk girl drowned Saturday morning after she and three companions jumped into the Dismal Swamp Canal during a police pursuit, police said.
The pursuit began shortly before 2 a.m. after police responded to a 7-11 store at Military Highway and Canal Drive, said Elizabeth Jones, police spokeswoman.
Jones said a clerk had called police after someone fueled a green 1990s model Dodge Shadow and drove off without paying.
An officer tried to stop the car carrying four people eastbound on Military Highway, but the driver identified as 20-year-old Deangelo Arps refused to stop, the police spokeswoman said. The chase then began near the Gilmerton Bridge , continued south on Dominion Boulevard and crossed over George Washington Highway near mile post 10.
The car, which police determined was stolen, stopped on the canal bank and the driver and passengers jumped into the water to try to escape, police said.
Police pulled Arps and two passengers - both juveniles - from the water, but did not know about the 15-year-old girl.
It wasn't until Arps and the juveniles were questioned at police headquarters that they told police about the missing girl.
The police department's dive team searched for the girl and found her body at 11:30 a.m. Saturday. The girl, whose name was not released, was a resident of Berkley.
Arps, of the 800 block of Goff St. in Norfolk, was charged with grand larceny of an auto, petty larceny, eluding police, obstruction of justice, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and various traffic charges. Other charges are pending. He is being held in the Chesapeake City Jail.
Charges are pending against the juveniles, who were released into the custody of their parents.
KEYWORDS: AUTOMOBILE THEFT ROBBERY ARREST DROWNING by CNB