CULPEPER COUNTY, Va. — Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins took to the department’s Facebook page Tuesday morning to defend two deputies that were involved in a pursuit that turned deadly when the suspect was ejected from his vehicle.
The post included a video of the pursuit.
According to the department’s Facebook post, the Virginia State Police is handling the situation that happened on Stonehouse Mountain Road in the early hours of Jan. 19.
Hugo J. Mendez-Lopez, 28 of Culpeper, was ejected from the vehicle and died in the crash, according to the post.
In the video, you can see the suspect driving down a curvy road in rainy conditions and the deputy driving behind it. Later in the video, you see the car go off the roadway, into a ditch surrounded by trees. The deputy car then comes to a stop on the roadway.
Nine days after the deadly crash, Sheriff Jenkins posted on Facebook defending the deputies involved.
Jenkins told WUSA9 there had been questions as to why the department hadn't released information. He said there was talk of people accusing the department of doing something improper and attempting to cover it up.
"This is just so far off base that I felt it needed to be addressed in a clear way to show that they did nothing wrong," Jenkins said. "And they were once again doing a great job and unfortunately that was a result. It wasn’t intended, but it does happen."
"I will not allow the reputation of these two deputies to be tarnished by rumors or half-truths," Jenkins said in a Facebook post. "The fatal crash is an unfortunate result of what happens far too often when suspects choose not to comply with law enforcement."
Jenkins said Deputy Wesley Spicer and Deputy Nick Wayland were involved in the brief pursuit. The post said Mendez-Lopez hit the side of one of the deputy’s vehicle and he was unable to continue. The other deputy continued until the suspect crashed.
This is a photo, from the pursuit video, that shows the damage done to one of the deputy's car, the post said the suspect hit one of the cars and the other deputy continued to pursue.
"We're very thankful our deputies or other motorists were not hurt," Jenkins continued in the post. "I have chosen to release video footage of the pursuit which speaks for itself and direct any further questions related to the crash investigation to the state police. I’d like to again thank our great partners with the Virginia State Police for their assistance."
Jenkins told WUSA9 that the pursuit was in relation to a possibly impaired driver, and deputies attempted to pull the driver over after he erratically crossed the center line.
The sheriff also said alcohol was present in the vehicle at the scene.
Virginia State Police is handling the incident. Virginia law says an officer may pursue anyone in the Commonwealth.
Jenkins said the department has an aggressive pursuit policy and aims to bring a pursuit to an end as quickly as possible or break off and not continue if it's not serious enough.