Crashing into police cruiser nets prison

A Hopewell man facing a long list of felony charges in connection with an incident last year that totaled a Charles City Sheriff’s Office police cruiser and heavily damaged another is headed to prison.

Nasir Karim Goode, 25, of 2001 Warren St., faced two counts each of attempted murder of a police officer, attempted malicious wounding, and malicious wounding along with single counts of eluding police, hit and run, and destruction of property. The charges stemmed from a Nov. 8 chase which ended when the pickup truck Goode was driving crashed into the back of a Charles City cruiser, sending that vehicle into a second cruiser.

A plea deal reached Sept. 24 in Charles City Circuit Court dropped the two attempted murder charges along with the property destruction and two malicious wounding counts. Goode pleaded guilty to the four remaining charges.

The plea deal also called for a sentence not exceeding the state’s recommended guidelines, which in Goode’s case called for a maximum active sentence of six years, eight months. Judge Thomas B. Hoover opted for the max.

Hoover sentenced Goode to 10 years in prison on each attempted malicious wounding charge, suspending all but three years, four months on each for the next 40 years. Ten years imposed for hit and run and five for eluding were suspended, also for the next 40 years.

The defendant must pay more than $31,000 in restitution to cover the cruiser that was totaled along with damages to the other.

Events began around 3:30 a.m. on Nov. 8 when Charles City dispatchers received report from Henrico County police of a high-speed chase that began on Interstate 295 and was heading east on Route 5 into Charles City. County deputies joined the pursuit, which reached speeds over 100 miles per hour.

Nearing the intersection with Adkins Road, deputies Floyd Miles Jr. and David Hennaman pulled their cruisers in front of the pickup, blocking both lanes in an attempt to execute a rolling roadblock. Instead of slowing, Goode apparently floored the gas pedal, ramming the rear of Hennaman’s cruiser.

“The impact sent Hennaman’s cruiser airborne and spun it around so that it struck Miles’ cruiser,” prosecutor Rob Tyler told the court.

The crash disabled all three vehicles, trapping both deputies inside their cruisers for a brief moment. Both deputies, however, escaped with only minor injuries.

Goode, meanwhile, fled on foot, eluding a subsequent search. But his head shattered the pickup’s windshield, leaving behind blood that investigators used for a DNA test to determine the defendant’s identity. Investigators traced the pickup to Chesterfield County where the owner said he traded the vehicle for drugs, Tyler told the court. The owner also picked Goode out of a photo lineup.

“I just want to apologize for my actions,” Goode told Hoover, just before the judge imposed sentence.

“Judging from your record, you’re not going to turn it around,” Hoover told Goode, pointing to previous firearm and malicious wounding convictions.

Goode’s legal problems are not over. Tyler said the defendant faces a murder charge in Petersburg.