
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 30, 1994                   TAG: 9403300096
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

POLICE SEEK HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER

Just before lunch Tuesday, a man driving a two-door Pontiac Grand Prix ripped through downtown traffic after police attempted to stop him for speeding. The man's car hit four vehicles at the intersection of Franklin Road and Jefferson Street before it was abandoned in the city's southeast section, according to police. There were no injuries.

The man was driving the gray 1986 Pontiac south in the 1800 block of 10th Street Northwest at about 11:10 a.m., when police clocked the car traveling at 49 mph in a 25-mph zone. Police said there was one passenger in the car.

When police attempted to stop the vehicle, the man accelerated, leading police on a chase.

Police pursued the car south on 10th Street and east on Marshall Avenue. The car jumped the median at First Baptist Church and continued east on Franklin Road.

Yvonne Willard was waiting in her car for the light to change at Jefferson Street and Franklin Road when she saw the car hit a truck that was crossing the intersection.

She then watched as the car hit her own.

"It all happened so fast," she said. "I thought, `Oh, god, he's going to hit me.' He was going so fast he lost control."

The Grand Prix careened off two cars parked along Franklin Road, spraying debris from the vehicles across the street, to the entrance of the Crestar Bank building.

The man and his passenger drove to Eighth and Church streets, where they fled.

The owner of the car told police that someone she knew took her car without her consent. Police are continuing their investigation.

by CNB