UPDATE: Police make one arrest in street race incident in Bristol

UPDATE 02/11/10:
BRISTOL, Va. -- Bristol, Va. Police have made an arrest in connection to the street race crash that took the life of 38-year-old Melinda Woodward of Abingdon, Va. The crash occurred at the intersection of Gate City Hwy. and Osborne St.

Joseph Dewayne Rose, 19, of Pound Va. was arrested today after he turned himself in. Rose was released from jail after posting bond and will appear in court March 25 in Bristol, Virginia General District Court.

Charges are pending against the driver of another vehicle which was involved in the racing incident, but left the scene of the fatal crash.

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BRISTOL, Va. – Running outside to see the commotion, Citgo gas station clerk Terri Green immediately saw a silver Pontiac Trans Am with a crumpled front end and flat front tires facing the wrong way on Gate City Highway.

A man emerged from the driver’s seat and into the cold Monday evening air, Green said, hugged his ribs and walked to the store’s front door.

“He asked if he could have a cup of water, and I told him he could have some ice” from the Pepsi fountain, Green said.

As far as Green could tell, the man never glanced past his passenger side, where a new blue Ford Mustang sat, its driver’s side door crushed inward from the impact.

The driver of that car – Melinda Woodward, 38, of Abingdon, Va., died immediately in the collision, Bristol Virginia police said. She had just pulled from the back exit of the Bristol Mall at 6 p.m. and into the center of the Osborne Street intersection when caught in the middle of a southbound street race, police said.

Racing alongside the Trans Am was a red Ford Mustang that never stopped, Bristol police Sgt. T.J. Sexton said. The red Mustang did not hit Woodward’s car, police said.

Late Monday, police were still searching for the car, described as a 2004 or 2005 model, possibly a Cobra design, with a V-8 engine and aftermarket wheels.

The racers “were coming into town and the woman had the green light,” Sexton said.

Based on witness statements, police said the Trans Am and red Mustang were traveling fast. How fast remains unknown.

“We have no indication of speed because we have no skid marks,” police Sgt. Steven Crawford said.

The force of the collision spun the blue Mustang in the opposite direction, while also throwing it 50 feet from the spot of impact. It stopped, facing the wrong way in the southbound lane.

Both Trans Am and blue Mustang careened through a pile of snow that had been heaped in front of a concrete median strip. It was the snow flying past the Citgo station’s glass front that alerted Green of the accident.

Scratches on the median strip revealed the Trans Am’s path as it slammed into a “no U-turn” sign, ripped the metal pole in half and tossed the sign roughly 20 feet down the road. The Trans Am slid to a stop facing the wrong way in the northbound lane, heading out of the city.

Paramedics rushed the Trans Am’s driver, 19-year-old Joseph D. Rose, of Wise County, Va., and his passenger to Bristol Regional Medical Center, police reported. Charges are pending against Rose, police said.

Street racing along this section of Gate City Highway is an old sport, said some bystanders who braved the night’s chill in the Citgo parking lot to watch the police investigation and cleanup.

Mary Cox, who lives within sight of the wreck, said local street racers flock there because the Osborne Street traffic light is the last stop leading northbound out of Bristol.

“They really go at it,” Cox said. “When I hear the police sirens, I’m like, ‘go get ‘em.’ ”

Citgo clerk Green estimated that she has seen or heard at least one race a day since starting the job slightly more than a year ago.

“It’s a wonder someone’s not been hit long before this,” she said.

mowens@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2549