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Man Accused of Ramming Police Cars

The Washington Post

A 19-year-old Prince William County man was arrested and charged with trying to kill a police officer early Thursday after allegedly driving his family’s van into two police cruisers, then leading police on a chase that ended near Alexandria.

Police were called to the Lake Ridge area home of Shaun D. Witt, in the 2700 block of Omisol Road, about 5 a.m. on a report that he was driving his mother’s 1997 minivan without permission. Officer Matt Jacques, who knew Witt, tried to flag him down, but Witt’s van slammed into the side of Jacques’s police car and knocked it into a ditch, Detective Dennis Mangan said.

Another Prince William officer, who arrived as the van drove off, followed the van into a dead-end court. The van turned around and rammed the police car head-on, Mangan said, then headed to the Prince William Parkway and Interstate 95.

As the van headed north on I-95, Fairfax County and Virginia State Police joined the pursuit. Near the Edsall Road exit, Trooper Mike Walter and another trooper, whose name was not available, boxed in the van and forced it to pull over.

Prince William police charged Witt with attempted capital murder of a police officer and unauthorized use of a vehicle.