Cindy Martinez and Daezairon Jones

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

A wild, tire-shredding police chase that stretched across multiple Virginia counties ended with a crash, two arrests, and a memorable quote from the sheriff.

Culpeper County deputies said the chaos began shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29, when they got word about a stolen vehicle out of Manassas spotted near Braggs Corner Road.

After a brief search, deputies found the car behind the Martin’s Grocery Store in the Town of Culpeper, according to Sheriff Timothy W. Chilton. 

Deputies tried to perform a felony stop, but the driver hit the gas — launching a high-speed pursuit.

The chase tore through the Brandy Station area, then onto Carrico Mills Road toward Germanna Highway, with deputies and Virginia State Police in hot pursuit. 

At one point, a deputy deployed spike strips that successfully blew out the suspect’s tires, though she was undeterred.

The driver — later identified as Manassas resident Cindy Martinez — kept going eastbound toward Orange and Spotsylvania counties, even as her left-side tires disintegrated, police said.

An Orange County deputy tried to spike the car again, but the driver swerved around, “dangerously close to the deputy,” officials said. 

By then, state troopers had joined the chase as the vehicle barreled toward Fredericksburg.

The pursuit came to an end when Martinez lost control at the intersection of Brock Road and Germanna Highway, slamming into the back of another vehicle stopped at a light, authorities said.

Martinez and her passenger, Daezairon Jones, were taken to a local hospital for minor injuries and later discharged. 

Both were arrested without further incident.

A search of the vehicle turned up suspected narcotics, and investigators said additional charges are pending lab results.

Martinez was charged with:

  • Felony eluding;
  • Possession of a stolen vehicle;
  • Driving suspended;

She is being held without bail.

Jones was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and is wanted by the Fauquier County Sheriff's Office for larceny.

Sheriff Chilton credited his team’s coordination — and timing — for ending the chase safely.

“Interagency cooperation, training, and the use of spike strips brought this to a safe resolution,” Chilton said. “In my almost 30 years this was the first female driver in a pursuit that I can remember… You can’t out run that radio!”