A soldier stole an armored personnel carrier and took it on a 2-hour chase through the capital of Virginia
- An Army National Guard armored vehicle was stolen from a base in central Virginia.
- Police followed the vehicle into the city and surrounded it near City Hall.
- The driver, a soldier, appears to have surrendered on his own.
A soldier reportedly took an armored personnel carrier on a two-hour ride through central Virginia on Tuesday, leading police on a chase that ended in downtown Richmond, the state capital.
State police said the unidentified soldier stole the vehicle from Fort Pickett, an Army National Guard base in Blackstone, which is about a 60-mile drive from Richmond, at about 7:50 pm.
The unidentified man then drove the vehicle east on Route 460 and then north to Richmond on Interstate 95. He was driving at about 40 mph, state police said, and the vehicle was not armed with any weapons.
Once he reached Richmond, the man exited the highway onto the Boulevard, one of the city's main thoroughfares, before turning onto Broad Street and heading toward the Capitol building. State police responded to a call about the vehicle and followed it as it traveled from Fort Pickett into downtown Richmond.
As of 9:40 pm, the man had stopped on East Broad Street and 11th Street, near City Hall and Capitol Square.
Witnesses said the vehicle drove onto a median, stopped, and then the man driving got out and started walking around. Police sent a dog after him and shot him with a Taser, they told the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
"It sounds like he pretty much just stopped on his own accord," State Police Sgt. Keeli Hill told the Times-Dispatch.
Police cleared vehicles from the road as the armored vehicle rolled through, with a state police helicopter tracking the APC with its spotlight. Police have not yet determined how the man was able to take the vehicle from Fort Pickett, according to the Times-Dispatch.
There were no crashes or injuries as a result of the chase. The driver is being held by state police, and charges are pending.
You can see more footage of the armored personnel carrier stopped on the streets of Richmond below.