Amherst man gets 7 years for high speed chase, cocaine distribution

Velle Weilding Coles, 60, of Amherst, received a seven-year active sentence Dec. 7 in Appomattox County Circuit Court for a Feb. 28 incident in which he led police on a high speed chase and was found with cocaine in a vehicle after crashing.

According to evidence summarized in court, Virginia State Police clocked Coles traveling at 70 miles per hour in a 45 speed limit work zone on U.S. Route 460 East where construction workers were renovating a bridge near the Falwell Airport.

When police turned on their emergency lights and siren, Coles, who was driving a rental car, sped up and reached speeds of 120 miles per hour. While attempting to flee, Coles weaved in and out of traffic and almost ran another vehicle off the road. He also ran a red light at the Sheetz intersection in Concord.

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