By Debbie Hall and Brandon Martin
A Bassett man is being held in the Henry County Jail following an April 16 incident in which a man allegedly overpowered emergency workers and commandeered an ambulance.
Derrick Devon Martin, 50, was taken into custody on County Line Road in Patrick County, authorities said. He is being held with no bond on several charges, including carjacking, grand larceny, elude police, assault and batter, and destruction of property in connection with the incident.
Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry said he expects additional charges from the Virginia State Police and the Patrick County Sheriff’s Office stemming from the wreck and the pursuit.
“We are just very thankful that nobody was hurt,” Perry said.
According to the Perry, he first began to hear about the incident around 11 a.m.
“There was a graduation event for some officer that I was attending. and I started receiving texts,” Perry said. “I went and began listening to the radio and what was going on with it.”
Henry County authorities had sent a ‘be on the look-out’ call which included the suspect’s name and age. They apprehended a man who allegedly became combative and resisted arrest. The man then became unresponsive and was experiencing what appeared to be a medical emergency.
Henry County deputies administered the resuscitating drug Naloxone (NARCAN), and the man was loaded into a Henry County Public Safety ambulance, according to Patrick County Sheriff Dan Smith.
Dustin Dillon, a Patrick County deputy who responded to the call on Saddleridge Road, which is located just across the county line off of Fairystone Park Highway, then cleared from the scene when the man was loaded into the ambulance.
Minutes later, at 11:23 a.m., Henry County authorities notified Smith’s office that the Henry County Public Safety ambulance allegedly was commandeered, and that deputies were in pursuit.
“We had a very dangerous situation in that he certainly could have hurt someone while driving the rescue squad and fleeing from us, but this particular person also has a rather lengthy history with law enforcement,” Perry alleged. “Some of the acts and things can be violent, so to just let him go could have endangered the general public if we backed away from the pursuit.”
Perry said there were a few minutes where Martin allegedly stopped the rescue squad “and nobody was around to stop him. An innocent person could have been hurt. It really was a situation that we felt we needed to continue until we had him in custody.”
Patrick authorities responded and assisted the Henry County Sheriff’s Office and Virginia State Police in the pursuit.
“We initially sent deputies staged at areas to deploy spike strips in an effort to disable the ambulance, and we became involved in the pursuit before it entered into our county on County Line Road,” Smith said.
Dillon again responded and became involved in the pursuit as it neared the Henry/Patrick county line. Deputy Noah Wolfe also responded, and successfully deployed spike strips on the ambulance. However, even with deflated rear tires, the ambulance continued to elude authorities, Smith said.
Patrick deputies alleged the ambulance swerved at oncoming traffic and at Virginia State Police vehicles as troopers tried to deploy additional spike strips, Smith said.
Rob Martin, another Patrick County deputy, picked up the pursuit on County Line Road. His patrol vehicle was allegedly rammed by the ambulance when Rob Martin attempted to initiate a rolling roadblock, in which authorities use their vehicles to ensure the other vehicle is operated at a set speed.
The vehicle “was running on rims on the wrong side of the road at approximately 30 miles-per-hour, with the rear running gear damaged,” Smith said. “When Deputy Martin attempted to block him in, it was apparent that the suspect was not going to stop until we removed him from the road.”
Dillon used the front push bumper of his patrol vehicle to move the ambulance off of the road way after Rob Martin’s vehicle was rammed, according to the sheriff.
The ambulance continued before coming to stop in a field near the wood line. There, a man exited the ambulance and fled on foot, Smith said. The man was apprehended by Patrick County Sheriff’s K-9, Crash, moments later.
Due to the size of the ambulance, Perry said it took a herculean effort to stop the vehicle.
“They were dealing with a commercial grade vehicle that isn’t easily stopped,” he said. “The normal means of dealing with a pursuit were tools that we could not use this time because of the weight of the ambulance in the area of 16,000-17,000 lbs. We couldn’t stop it. Spike strips were successful in taking out the tires on the left-hand side of the vehicle. We kept trying to get him out on the right side of the vehicle. Fortunately, it did come to an end safely.”
Deputy Rob Martin and Derrick Martin sustained minor injuries during the incident.
The Virginia State Police is handling the crash and pursuit investigation.
