Trending
HOMESTEAD, Alabama - The driver of a vehicle that struck a car carrying Appalachian Regional Commission Co-Chairwoman Gayle Manchin was fleeing from police at the time of Monday's crash, local law enforcement said.
Tradarryl Rishad Boykins, 31, of Birmingham, Alabama, was charged Wednesday with two counts of second-degree felony assault and one count each of attempting to elude and persons forbidden to possess a firearm, both felonies, according to a release from the Homewood, Alabama, Police Department.
Boykins was taken into custody and held at the Homewood City jail after the crash.
Police in Homewood, a city just south of Birmingham, initiated a pursuit of Boykins, who was wanted on felony charges, a release said. They pursued him onto 18th Street North in North Birmingham but lost contact.
They soon found his vehicle had collided with another at an intersection, the release said.
That vehicle was carrying Manchin and ARC congressional liaison Guy Land, according to releases from the commission and the office of Sen. Joe Manchin, Gayle Manchin's husband.
Gayle Manchin and Land were taken to the University of Alabama-Birmingham hospital, where they were listed in stable condition and remained Wednesday.
Boykins' bond was set at $2 million and he was scheduled to be transferred Wednesday to the Jefferson County Jail in Birmingham. The release said he is a convicted violent felon with a history of robbery, assault, burglary and narcotics possession.