Driver leads high-speed chase to Naval Base

By Linda Cicoira     

A New York man was hurrying to get a friend back to his Naval post in Norfolk when he led police on a chase through Northampton County and across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel at speeds as high as 130 mph.

The early summer race ended on Pleasure House Road in Virginia beach when the drive crashed into a business.

Twenty-four-year-old Mamy Coulibaly, of the Bronx, pleaded guilty Monday in Northampton Circuit Court to eluding police and reckless driving. Two identical charges were not prosecuted. Coulibaly was first clocked in the Exmore area going 90 mph in a 45-mph-zone. He would not stop for the police. He continued to pass other vehicles at faster speeds. One officer was following Coulibaly and blew a tire in a tunnel trying to catch him.

Coulibaly apologized to the judge, the state, and the prosecutor. He was sentenced to three years for eluding and 12 months in jail for reckless driving with all but the 141 days he served in jail suspended. The defendant was also prohibited from driving in Virginia for six months.

The incident occurred around midnight on June 19.