Sheriff: Unregistered Sex Offender Strikes Deputy's Cruiser While Fleeing Traffic Stop

A driver was in custody after striking a deputy’s cruiser Thursday morning.

According to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, deputies attempted to pull over the driver, identified as Virgil E. Johnson Jr., along Refugee and Noe Bixby roads around 6 a.m.

Investigators said that Johnson refused to get out of the car and became upset with the deputy. The driver took off when the deputy deployed his Taser.

The driver, who was identified as an unregistered sex offender, gave brief chase, with speeds reaching 80 mph, striking a deputy’s cruiser on the way.

A Whitehall police officer performed a pit maneuver on the car in the parking lot of an Arby’s restaurant at Main and Hamilton.

A woman in the vehicle told deputies that Johnson sexually assaulted her.

Johnson was charged with fleeing, failing to change his address as a sexual offender and rape.

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