North Carolina man sentenced in high speed chase incident

By Linda Cicoira

A 21-year-old North Carolina man will spend a year in prison for leading nine local police departments on a high-speed chase across the Eastern Shore of Virginia last August.

Christian Michael White, of Fayetteville, was sentenced in Northampton Circuit Court to five years with all but a year suspended for the Aug. 26, 2024, offenses of felony eluding and child endangerment. Counts of unauthorized use of a vehicle and another count of child neglect were not prosecuted.

White could have been sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison and fined $5,000. He had previously been convicted in Accomack County of felony eluding and was sentenced to five years with all but six months suspended.

White was reportedly going south on Lankford Highway in a carjacked vehicle from Denton, Maryland, at speeds up to 130 mph. Two 16-year-old passengers were in a car.

“He realizes how stupid and dangerous this thing was,” said defense lawyer Richard Phillips. “He is remorseful.”

Deputies from Accomack and Northampton County sheriff’s offices, the state police, the Virginia Marine Resources Police, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Police, and officers from Exmore, Eastville, and Virginia Beach police departments responded.

According to an initial announcement about White’s arrest, a flock camera alerted police that a suspect driving a stolen Maryland vehicle was traveling in Accomack County. Deputies spotted it in Nelsonia and attempted a traffic stop. The driver didn’t comply, continuing on the highway at high rates of speed, passing through Accomack and Northampton counties, and crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. It finally stopped at the south toll plaza, where the three were taken into custody.