Man Sentenced to More Than 2 Years for Hit-and-Run While Eluding Norfolk Police

NORFOLK, Va. — Vernell Curtis Freeman, 32, was sentenced on Friday to serve two years and nine months in prison for felony eluding, felony hit-and-run, and violating probation after he sped away from police who were trying to serve him with arrest warrants earlier this year.

On the afternoon of April 16, Norfolk Police officers saw Mr. Freeman in his car in a parking lot at the JANAF shopping center. The officers recognized Mr. Freeman and knew him to have been wanted on outstanding warrants, so the officers attempted to pull Mr. Freeman over by activating their patrol car’s lights and siren. Mr. Freeman, who had his girlfriend in the car with him, did not pull over and sped away from officers. He jumped curbs and drove through the parking lot of a bank before heading west on East Virginia Beach Boulevard. The officers had to terminate their pursuit at the intersection with Military Highway due to traffic, and Mr. Freeman drove in an opposing lane of traffic shortly thereafter, crashing into another car and causing injuries to the other driver. After the crash, Mr. Freeman exited his car and tried to flee on foot while the transmission was still in drive and while his girlfriend was still inside, allowing the car to continue rolling in the wrong direction of traffic until it ran into some bushes and came to a stop.

On Sept. 3, Mr. Freeman entered an agreement to plead guilty as charged to felony eluding and felony hit-and-run and to face an active sentence up to the midpoint of his state sentencing guidelines. Judge Joseph C. Lindsey accepted Mr. Freeman’s plea agreement, found him guilty, and set his sentencing hearing on Oct. 31. Mr. Freeman also faced additional prison time for violating the terms of his probation from previous offenses. There was no agreement between the Commonwealth and Mr. Freeman on any jail or prison sentence for those violations.

On Friday, after hearing arguments from the Commonwealth and defense on this case and Mr. Freeman’s probation violations, Judge Lindsey sentenced Mr. Freeman to serve two years and two months in prison — the midpoint of his sentencing guidelines — and suspended another five years and 10 months on the conditions that Mr. Freeman be of uniform good behavior for three years following his release. Judge Lindsey also found Mr. Freeman in violation of his probation and revoked seven months of his previously suspended sentence, bringing his total time to serve to two years and nine months. Mr. Freeman will also have to complete five years of supervised probation following his release for other probation violations he incurred from the April 16 offense.

“Once again, what should have been a routine interaction between the police and a suspect went bad when Mr. Freeman, instead of stopping and complying, endangered himself, his girlfriend, the police, and the people around him,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Had Mr. Freeman stopped, everything would have gone better, including for him. If the police issue instructions for someone to stop, they must.”

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Christina L. Brady prosecuted Mr. Freeman’s case, and Norfolk Police Officer Jack W. Harris led the investigation.

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