MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Two suspects led Berkeley County deputies on a chase in a vehicle one of them had reportedly stolen from his deceased grandparents.
The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department tells The Panhandle News Network it happened Tuesday just before 2 a.m. when a deputy initiated a traffic stop on a 2003 Toyota 4 Runner for a traffic infraction at the Hammonds Mill Sheetz in North Berkeley County.
The vehicle did not stop, instead heading off to “various routes driving at high rates of speed with reckless indifference,” according to police.
A deputy deployed spike strips on Grade Road disabling both front tires of the vehicle and when the driver attempted to get on I-81 southbound, the deputy deployed a successful PIT technique, disabling the vehicle.
The sheriff’s department stresses there was no traffic in the area, which they say made the technique safe for all involved. Two men fled the vehicle on foot.
Authorities said deputies pursued the occupants and Tyler Cook, 22, was apprehended by K9 Max. The other man, identified as Tyler Sigler, 22, jumped the interstate barrier fence onto Pepper Tree Road. A state police trooper found Sigler in a wooded area off of the adjacent road, Jamaica Trail.
Cook was transported to Berkeley Medical Center for his injuries and then to Eastern Regional Jail to await arraignment. Sigler was transported directly to Eastern Regional Jail to await arraignment.
Authorities said it determined that the vehicle the two were driving had been stolen from a home in Boonsboro, MD belonging to Cook’s recently deceased grandparents.
That home had been broken into earlier in the day. Inside the vehicle, was an assortment of stolen property from that home, including weapons. The stolen property has been returned to the owners, according to the sheriff’s department.
The two now face a number of charges including conspiring to bring stolen property into the state, destruction of property and fleeing police while showing reckless indifference.