Amissville man in critical condition after motorcycle crash

Shortly before 9:00 pm on July 4th, a Frederick County Sheriff’s Deputy observed a motorcycle driving recklessly northbound on Front Royal Pike around Papermill Road and attempted to stop it.

Deputy Jason Walther, in a marked police cruiser, attempted to stop this bike around Airport Road. The sight of the motorcycle was lost in the 300 block of Front Royal Pike where Walther cut his lights. Deputy Walther’s radio traffic had been monitored by Sgt. Bryan Smith who observed this same individual at the intersection of Front Royal Pike and Millwood Pike where he continued driving in a reckless manner including high speeds, running red traffic lights, and riding on the dotted white lines in the middle of the roadway cutting between multiple moving vehicles.

Sgt. Smith attempted, with emergency equipment activated, to catch up to the suspect but the motorcycle, once again, accelerated and pulled away and was last seen eastbound on Route 50 passing Sulpher Springs Road before dropping out of sight. Sgt. Smith continued eastbound on Millwood Pike, where he came upon the motorcycle crashed and unattended in the middle of the road just past Arbor Ct.

The male was found unresponsive and suffering from obvious physical trauma. Frederick County Fire and Rescue units responded to the scene where the rider was evaluated and prepped to be transported to Fairfax INOVA Trauma Center by helicopter.

The rider of the 2022 Kawasaki Ninja motorcycle was identified as 44-year-old Dennis Jack Chapman of Amissville, Va. As previously stated, Chapman was airlifted to Fairfax INOVA where, at the time of this release, he has been reported to be in serious but stable condition and still undergoing medical procedures to address his injuries.

Lt. Warren Gosnell is leading this crash investigation along with Deputies James Glantz and Austin Stump of the Sheriff’s Office Traffic Division and Troopers Gray and Ayres from the Virginia State Police’s Crash Reconstruction Team. Eastbound Route 50 was shut down from 9:00 pm until Midnight when normal traffic flow was resumed.