HENRICO, Va. (WTVR)- It was a wild, ten-mile chase from the northern part of Henrico off Parham Road to the eastern end on Mechanicsville Turnpike Thursday afternoon.
24 hours later, the driver of that car, his cousin, and a third suspect were behind bars at the Henrico County Jail. Two of them told me their side of the story.
"I had my hands up and I was like ‘stop being so dramatic, before we get shot,’” said Jerard Liggins. “Be quiet." Liggins admits he was driving the gold car being chased by police.
He says he was trying to keep his front passenger and girlfriend Jasmine Fisher calm before police yanked him from the vehicle.
“They said, ‘Freeze! Nobody move!’ Of course they gonna’ do that,” Liggins said. “That's a chase, but you ain't gotta’ swing a gun at me.” “You think it was intentional?” I asked. “I don't know, man, it happened so fast," he said.
Liggins’ cousin Trevor Montague was sitting in the back seat of the car, with what police say was a freshly-swiped flat screen TV. "Police ain't touch me," he said.
He admitted that once they crashed, the adrenaline was pumping. "They was pissed off. They was mad," Montague said.
Henrico Police had begun their pursuit of the car after neighbors reported a break-in at a house in the Lakeside area.
"I know the guy Dan that lives there," said Liggins.
Liggins said suspect Aaron Brockington had had some dealings with ‘Dan’ before. Montague claimed he was just along for the ride, with Liggins in the driver seat.
"I wasn't really paying attention,” said Montague. “I didn't know if it was a girl’s house he messed with, or [fourth suspect] Jasmine [Fisher]'s house. “So you didn't get out of the car?” I asked. He shook his head.
Once they left the house, though, police were quickly in pursuit.
"He hit the lights, I hit the gas,” said Ligggins. “We was going really fast."
Speeds at 110 plus, according to Montague, who says there were some near misses.
"I almost hit a tractor-trailer, and some other cars," said Liggins.
Liggins says he did all he could to avoid spike strips and ultimately the crash that ends the heated chase on Cool Lane.
"Stuff happens, man. Bad luck, karma,” said Liggins. “Guess it's my past haunting me. I don't know."
Both men said they hoped to get out on bond before their April hearings because they have families to take care of. But Liggins also acknowledged he had been out on parole since October after serving just part of a 16 ½ year sentence for a prior robbery.
