NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A woman faces multiple charges after Norfolk Police said she hit an officer with her vehicle, which led to a high-speed pursuit that ended with a violent crash caught on camera.
According to Norfolk Police, investigators were standing in a parking lot at 4820 Hampton Blvd. around 10 a.m. Monday when one of the investigators was hit by a vehicle that immediately fled the scene.
Around 11:40 a.m. an officer spotted the vehicle parked in the 500 block of W. 21st Street and attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the driver of that Jeep Wrangler, later identified as 26-year-old Kayla B. Gilchrist, refused to stop.
About five minutes later, at 39th Street, horror all around.
Gilchrist’s Jeep Wrangler then can be seen on video driving down 39th Street before entering Michigan Avenue driving the wrong way.
Then the video shows that fast car, and the T-bone strike on the front of the 2003 Toyota Camry driven by Angela Martin at the intersection of W. 39th Street and Colley Avenue as Gilchrist speeds on.
But Gilchrist wouldn’t get much further. She clipped another car, hit a telephone pole on Michigan Avenue and then her car flipped over, according to police.
No longer able to drive, Gilchrist got out of the vehicle and fled in the 700 block of Michigan Avenue, police said. She was taken into custody following a brief foot pursuit and taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
A surveillance camera on a nearby business captured the crash. Owner Aimme McAlister shared the Ring video with WAVY TV-10, which showed the suspect vehicle never slowing down as it approached the intersection.
“It was pretty horrific we heard it,” McAlister said, “(I) came running out to look and the went to look for the video.”
That’s when McAlister saw the whole thing unfold before her eyes.
McAlister went to her video system and found the video with audio of a 2022 four-door Jeep Wrangler racing down 39th Street, pursued by Norfolk Police.
The crash is tough to watch.
“I guess she was going 90 mph through this stop sign,” McAlister said. “Up this one-way street, there’s a do not enter sign right here.”
Inside the car, Angela Martin, who was going to pick up her child from pre-school, was actually able to get out of the car, which surprised McAlister.
“I was just amazed that she jumped out of the car and was OK,” McAlister said. “I was not expecting anyone to get out of that car and be OK.”
Martin was taken to the hospital for treatment.
Her husband has voiced his anger on social media.
Andrew Hunds said his wife was on her way to pick up their child from preschool at the time of the crash.
“My wife was the stopping point of the vehicular chase,” Hunds said in a social media post. “Luckily, she wasn’t killed.”
Hunds was advised not to talk to the media, but he did say this about his wife.
“I am absolutely so grateful she is still with us here,” Hunds said.
The investigator suffered minor injuries and is expected to recover.
Police took Gilchrist to the hospital before taking her to jail, where she remains without bond. She faces 11 charges, including attempted malicious wounding of a law enforcement officer, assault on a law enforcement officer, eluding, hit-and-run, obstruction, trespassing, failing to yield the right of way, driving on the wrong side of the road, two counts of failing to obey highway signs and burglary.
Gilchrist is currently being held at Norfolk City Jail without bond.
