This is INSANE! Someone has hijacked a “Tank-like” vehicle from Fort Pickett and just drove it by our apartment! This is on Broad Street in the Fan. pic.twitter.com/EYfhFux1dk
— Parker Slaybaugh (@ParkerSlay89) June 6, 2018
What may be the strangest police chase ever took place in Richmond, Virginia, when cops pursued a stolen armored military vehicle for almost two hours Tuesday night.
Police say the suspect, identified as Joshua Philip Yabut, 29, of Richmond, Virginia, took the M577 armored personnel carrier from Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia just before 8 p.m. His National Guard unit was conducting routine training there at the time.
NPR reports Yabut headed north on Interstate 95 before entering Richmond. Around 9:40 p.m. Yabut stopped and surrendered to Virginia State Police about a block from the state capitol building.
He was arraigned Wednesday morning in Richmond district court on one count each of felony eluding police, driving under the influence of drugs, and felony unauthorized use of a vehicle.
No motive was given by police.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Yabut is a former cyber security researcher in the office of the chief information officer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Langley Research Center. He had also tried and failed to get on the ballot to run for the U.S. Senate.
