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Farmville police caught up to a vehicle believed to be guilty of a minor tag infraction Wednesday, Oct. 28, in downtown Farmville but ended up learning that the vehicle was stolen.

Lt. Bobby Ragland, of the Farmville Police Department (FPD), said the vehicle’s driver, who was taken into custody, was Harley Remington Edwards, 18, of Farmville.

Ragland noted the stolen vehicle was a tan 1996 Ford Explorer, and no traffic stop of the vehicle actually took place.

“The officer observed an infraction and tried to catch up to the vehicle to stop them, but in the process had to wait for traffic to clear,” he said. “By the time he got around to where the vehicle had turned off and he attempted to catch up to them, the vehicle was out of sight. So he never actually stopped the vehicle.”

Ragland said the officer caught up to the vehicle at the intersection of Osborn Road and North Main Street, where the vehicle had crashed into another vehicle.

“He was trying to catch up for a minor violation of a vehicle not having a front tag, and it turned out that the vehicle was stolen, and the front tag was stolen as well,” Ragland said. “That’s why they had fled. They’d seen him turn off after them, and they were trying to get away because they thought they would get stopped by him.”

The vehicle was stolen out of Henrico County, Ragland said.

“The tag was also stolen off of another vehicle in Henrico as well,” he said.

As Edwards attempted to evade the Farmville police officer, the Explorer struck a 2017 Hyundai sedan.

The stolen Explorer had four occupants, FPD Chief Andy Ellington said. Three jumped out and fled on foot, and one was arrested at the scene.

All four were taken into custody by that evening.

Ragland said the driver was the only occupant for which he could offer identification.