DATE: Sunday, August 10, 1997               TAG: 9708100045

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   54 lines

TROOPER INJURED, MAN ARRESTED AFTER CAR CHASE ENDS IN A CRASH

A state police trooper was slightly injured early Saturday when he ended a dangerous highway pursuit by ramming the car that, a moment earlier, had slammed into his police cruiser.

The driver of the pursued car, identified as Anthony Garrett, 19, of the 100 block of Woodland Road in Hampton, was not hurt. He was jailed on numerous charges.

State police spokeswoman Tammy Van Dame said the chase began about 1 a.m. when Hampton police tried to stop a 1986 Pontiac Grand Am on Scotland Road for an equipment violation.

Instead of stopping, the Grand Am headed for Interstate 64 westbound, getting onto the highway at Armistead Avenue.

The driver then turned onto I-664 southbound into Newport News, where that city's police joined the chase.

At the 26th Street overpass, waiting state police trooper B.G. Curl picked up the chase from city police, who left the highway at the entrance to the Monitor Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel.

The Grand Am was being driven ``in an extremely reckless and erratic manner, endangering public safety,'' Van Dame said. At the South Island of the tunnel complex, the car forced another vehicle off the road. Its driver was unhurt.

At times, the pursuit reached speeds of 75 mph, but was usually under that pace, Van Dame said.

Trooper M.E. Baker joined the chase, and he and Curl attempted to stop the car by wedging it between their cars.

The Grand Am's driver was not inclined to be pinned in, however.

About two miles north of the College Drive exit in Suffolk, the Grand Am's driver ``deliberately turned right into trooper Baker's car,'' Van Dame said.

Given that the Grand Am had now run one car off the highway and rammed a police officer, Trooper Baker was intent to end the chase. He turned left into the car, sending both vehicles into the median wall and stopping them.

``It was essential to end the pursuit,'' Van Dame said. The Grand Am driver had ``displayed complete and total disreguard for public safety, including the lives of the troopers.''

The chase ended at 1:24 a.m.

Baker suffered back and neck strains and was taken to Riverside Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released, Van Dame said.

Hampton police have charged Garrett with reckless driving, evading and eluding police, and driving without a license. State police have lodged the same three charges against him, as well as a felony charge of malicious wounding of a law enforcement officer. Upon conviction, the later charge carries a mandatory two-year prison term.

Garrett was being held in the Hampton city jail without bond Saturday night.

Van Dame estimated damage to the state police car at $2,500. KEYWORDS: HIGH SPEED CHASE ACCIDENT TRAFFIC

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