Police: Sunday Chase A Stop-And-Go Pursuit

BRISTOL, Va. – Police say a report of a gasoline drive-off in Abingdon on Sunday sparked an unorthodox car chase that topped 90 mph at some points and came to a complete stop at others.

It began at Big John’s convenience store on Porterfield Highway in Abingdon, where police allege Michele Denise Reichenback, 42, pumped about $68 worth of gas then sped away without paying around 4 p.m., said Washington County Sheriff’s Deputy Travis Turner.

A deputy spotted the Abingdon woman’s blue Dodge Durango shortly afterward on Wyndale Road and tried to initiate a traffic stop, Turner said.
Reichenback refused to stop and a chase involving several deputies, the Virginia State Police and the Bristol Virginia police department ensued, he said.

For the next 15 minutes, law enforcement followed her onto Interstate 81 and eventually continued onto Commonwealth Avenue in Bristol, Va., where the pursuit finally ended at the intersection with Keys Road, said Trooper Pat Lower.

“She was stopping at stop signs, but not stopping for police,” Lower said.

In Washington County, Turner said Reichenback never topped 50 mph and obeyed traffic laws – “actually, she gave signals and she stopped when she should,” he said. “The fastest she got in the county was 50 mph.”

Reichenback wasn’t so cautious on the interstate, according to Lower.

“I don’t know exactly how fast we were going,” he said. “I wasn’t looking at my speedometer. I was in front of her attempting a rolling roadblock and was looking in my rearview mirror. ”

In a rolling roadblock, an officer pulls in front of the vehicle and slows down in an attempt to slow the fleeing vehicle, Lower explained.

“At one point she passed a tractor-trailer on the shoulder [of the interstate] at about 90 mph,” he said.

Reichenback got off I-81 and onto I-381 at Exit 3, Lower said, where she drove into the median, shot back across both lanes and crashed into the guardrail.

Reichenback was charged with petty larceny and taken to the Bristol jail, Turner said.

| (276) 645-2531