Judge Sentences Man to 1 Year for Eluding State Trooper on I-264 in Norfolk
NORFOLK, Va. — A Norfolk Circuit Court judge sentenced Lashun Sylvester Bradshaw, 21, on Friday to one year in prison for eluding police and obstructing justice after recklessly speeding on the downtown corridor of Interstate 264 last summer.
On July 1, 2023, Mr. Bradshaw was driving a vehicle westbound on I-264 near the Brambleton Avenue exit and passed by a Virginia State Police trooper running their LiDAR scanner at 84 mph. When the trooper activated their lights and attempted to pull Mr. Bradshaw over, Mr. Bradshaw began weaving in and out of traffic and reached 90 mph as he crossed the Berkley Bridge toward I-464. After passing the Berkley Avenue exit, Mr. Bradshaw pulled over onto the shoulder and switched seats with one of his two friends riding in the vehicle as passengers.
After Chesapeake Police officers arrived, each of the vehicle’s occupants were detained and questioned. The individual who switched seats with Mr. Bradshaw admitted to doing so, and Mr. Bradshaw confirmed that they switched seats and that he had been driving. Mr. Bradshaw’s reasoning for eluding and for switching seats was because he had been on probation and did not want to go to prison. Mr. Bradshaw was on probation at the time of this incident for April 2023 Virginia Beach convictions of larceny and brandishing a firearm.
Mr. Bradshaw was charged with felony eluding and misdemeanor obstruction of justice, and the other occupant who switched seats with Mr. Bradshaw was also charged with misdemeanor obstruction of justice.
On Oct. 30, Mr. Bradshaw pleaded guilty to his charges pursuant to a plea agreement that called for a sentence of up to one year in prison, and Judge Everett A. Martin Jr. accepted his plea.
On Friday, Judge Martin sentenced Mr. Bradshaw to one year in prison, and suspended an additional two years on the condition that Mr. Bradshaw complete an indeterminate period of supervised probation upon his release.
“Eluding the police endangers the driver, the police, and the whole community,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “If the police turn on their lights, you must stop. All Mr. Bradshaw had to do was pull over, and he would not have faced a felony conviction or a felony sentence."
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney J. Drew Fairbanks prosecuted Mr. Bradshaw’s case on behalf of the Commonwealth, and Virginia State Police Trooper Kyle Rose led the investigation.
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