Pedestrian hit, killed by car being pursued in Va. Beach

VIRGINIA BEACH

When Ciara Rogers last spoke with her father Monday evening, he told her he'd just dropped off a delivery in Norfolk and was going to get something to eat.

A few hours later, Raymond "Ray Ray" Rogers Jr. was dead.

The 49-year-old truck driver from Providence, R.I., was crossing the 5700 block of Northampton Blvd. about 11 p.m. Monday when a man in a vehicle pursued by police struck him, officials said Tuesday. Rogers died at the scene.

The incident began on South Military Highway when officers spotted an unoccupied vehicle belonging to a man wanted for a robbery last month in Portsmouth, police said. A man got into the car and began driving, and following officers signaled him to pull over.

Instead, the driver sped away, leading officers on a chase onto Northampton Boulevard, where he struck Rogers, police said. Officers stopped to help, but his injuries were too severe.

Norfolk police found the suspect's vehicle abandoned in the 3500 block of Bertha St. in Norfolk a short time after, according to a news release. And then, early Tuesday morning, a Bertha Street resident found an unknown man sleeping inside his van and called police, who identified him as the suspect from Monday's hit-and-run, police said.

Police charged Ronald Lee Perkins Jr., 38, of the 4700 block of Teal Duck Court in Virginia Beach, with homicide, hit-and-run and eluding police. He also faces a robbery charge in Portsmouth stemming from a Dec. 27 hold-up at the GameStop at 3929 Victory Blvd., said Detective Jan Westerbeck, a Portsmouth police spokeswoman.

Perkins remained in the Virginia Beach Correctional Center without bond Tuesday.

Located off Interstate 64 and offering a truck stop, gas stations, fast-food restaurants and motels, Northampton Boulevard attracts many truck drivers passing through the region. But with a 45 mph speed limit, eight lanes of traffic and few crosswalks where the vehicle struck Rogers, the corridor isn't as friendly for pedestrians.

It's unclear whether Rogers was using a crosswalk, said Officer Grazia Moyers, a Virginia Beach police spokeswoman.

Rogers had worked for UPS before becoming a truck driver a few months ago, often making deliveries to Virginia and North Carolina, said his mother, Thelma Rogers, in a phone interview from Rhode Island. She described him as a hard-working family man who always attended church on Sundays when he was home.

Rogers had two adult daughters and, when his best friend died several years ago, stepped in to provide a father figure for his children, too, she said.

"He was a wonderful son, a very happy-go-lucky person," Thelma Rogers said. "He loved people."

Rogers and his daughters didn't get to spend their last holiday together because he was working, Ciara Rogers said. But before he left home two weeks ago, the trio went out to dinner and bought clothes and toys together for two young girls through The Salvation Army's Angel Tree program, she said.

"He was definitely a dedicated father," Ciara Rogers said. "He would do anything for my sister and I."

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com