Police search Potomac for runaway driver

Area police searched for a driver that jumped into the Potomac River on Monday evening after fleeing a traffic stop. The incident occurred around 9:30 p.m.

At 9:05 p.m. on May 14, Senior West Virginia State Police Trooper S.R. Smith
and Trooper D.R. Walker from the Berkeley Springs detachment responded to a copper theft complaint at the end of Sir John’s Run Road, State Police Sergeant S.E. Davis of the Berkeley Springs detachment said in a press release.

They arrived around 9:22 p.m. and walked to the area where the copper was being stolen after parking along the south side of the railroad tracks and then proceeded to the CSX access road.

As they walked westbound on the road, a vehicle’s headlights approached them from
the west. They moved to the side of the road and when the vehicle reached them,
the troopers illuminated the driver, identified themselves and ordered the driver to stop.

The driver accelerated toward the troopers in an attempt to hit them and continued eastbound. As the troopers tried to get out of the vehicle’s path, they fired three shots, Davis said.

Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputy Dennis Jenkins intercepted the vehicle and attempted a felony stop on the driver, but the driver got out of the vehicle, ran down an embankment and jumped into the river.

A search was conducted along both sides of the Potomac River near Hancock, but the driver wasn’t found, Davis said.

West Virginia State Police were assisted by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, the Hancock Police Department, the Maryland State Police, the Paw Paw Police Department, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department, the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Department and the CSX police, he said.

Anyone with information about the incident should call the West Virginia State Police at 304-258-0000.