Virginia man hides in storm drain after fleeing hit-and-run on state highway

Virginia police are searching for a man who hid in a storm drain after fleeing a car crash on a state highway on Monday afternoon.

State troopers originally responded to two crashes around 2:35 p.m. on Monday on I-495 eastbound in Fairfax.

A third crash happened shortly behind the responding officers while they were investigating the first two incidents.

One of the drivers involved in the third crash took off after troopers asked for identification. He made it less than a mile down the interstate before veering off-road and plummeting into a ditch.

Undeterred, the suspect took off on foot and sprinted across the east and westbound lanes of the highway. Somehow, he vanished in a drainage spot underneath the interstate before troopers could nab him.

In a scene reminiscent of a Super Mario video game, the suspect reemerged from the drainage spot on the eastbound side before hopping right back down in a second smaller storm drain.

Virginia State Police and rescue personnel scoured the area to no avail.

They spared no resources and employed the assistance of drone units, rescue teams, and more than a dozen officers all to find one man.

The search dragged on until around 6:30 p.m. — a whopping four hours after the initial response to the first crashes.

The police said that the suspect didn’t have a valid driver’s license, but he did have a construction identification.