Steven James Slater pleaded guilty Wednesday in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court to felony evade and elude.
The charge stemmed from a Nov. 16 incident that began on Route 199 when a James City County police officer attempted to pull Slater over for speeding around 1:30 p.m. and ended when Slater crashed his 1996 Yamaha motorcycle in a ditch near Green Springs Plantation. Judge Michael E. McGinty accepted Slater’s guilty plea.
Assistant Williamsburg-James City County Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua DeFord presented the evidence of the case after Slater pleaded guilty. DeFord said an officer saw Slater on Route 199 speeding and weaving through lanes and on the shoulder of the road. The officer attempted a traffic stop, but Slater sped up.
At one point, DeFord said, the officer’s patrol vehicle was going 120 mph, and Slater was still pulling away from the car. Slater then took the Monticello Avenue exit and stopped before turning on the road heading toward Green Springs Plantation. He ran a pair of red lights and continued to weave through traffic.
Slater then crossed Powhatan Creek Bridge. On the other side of the bridge, he almost crashed into a van. The evasive maneuvers he took to avoid hitting the van caused him to crash in the ditch, where he was arrested, DeFord said.
When he was arrested, Slater was charged with a number of offenses, including passing without view of oncoming traffic, speeding in excess of 80 mph, driving without a license endorsement, a pair of other improper passing charges and an improper backing, stopping, turning charge. Those charges were dropped in Williamsburg-James City County District Court at a February hearing.
A grand jury indicted Slater on the felony evade and elude charge on March 20. He will go back before the court to be sentenced at 1 p.m. June 19. He faces up to five years in the penitentiary and a $2,500 fine.
