A hit-and-run driver was chased by witnesses and briefly held at gunpoint after a South Hill wreck that injured another driver, according to charging papers.
The 25-year-old pleaded not guilty to vehicular assault and hit-and-run at arraignment Wednesday. His bail was set at $175,000.
The victim in the hit-and-run suffered a broken back, court records said.
Charging papers make these allegations about what happened:
Witnesses said the man was speeding before he crashed into another vehicle that pulled out of a car wash about 1 p.m. Tuesday near 168th Street East and Meridian Avenue.
One witness said the man was going 100 miles per hour.
After the wreck, onlookers saw him take belongings from the backseat and run off.
"Several citizens reported chasing after him, at least one drew a firearm on the driver, but then reported that he looked away momentarily to check on the accident scene, at which point the driver took off running again," the declaration for determination of probable cause said.
A trooper arrived, and witnesses told him the man who caused the wreck had fled. The trooper saw him across the road, followed in his patrol car as the man ran through a parking lot and "noted multiple citizens were also following him," the probable cause statement said.
The man ran up to a car and asked the woman inside for a ride. She declined and he ran off again. Then the trooper chased him on foot through a construction site, and the man surrendered.
Some of the witnesses brought investigators clothes they said the man took with him when he fled.
They had security tags on them, and investigators learned the goods had been stolen from the South Hill Mall earlier that day.
The trooper also found five credit cards in the man's wallet that weren't his and noticed the keys on the suspect's ring were shaved, including the one in his ignition.
He also saw the temporary registration on the vehicle was for a 2015 Ford truck, but the VIN number was for a 1991 Honda.
Prosecutors noted the seriousness of the allegations and the defendant's criminal history when they asked the court for bail.
"The defendant has 22 cases with bench warrant activity, one of which was active at the time of this incident and arrest," the probable cause statement said.
