KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — A man has been arrested in Cocke County after deputies say he was involved in a previous pursuit in North Carolina.

According to the arrest report, Cocke County deputies were notified about a pursuit on I-40 West on May 4. The North Carolina Highway Patrol Interdiction Unit stopped the pursuit at the state line between North Carolina and Tennessee.

The unit advised Cocke County law enforcement that the driver, identified as male, is a possible escaped federal inmate from Virginia and driving a red van with Illinois tags. The driver was reportedly involved in a murder of an officer.

Deputies searched for the vehicle on I-40 and found the van that matched the description of the suspect’s vehicle. A deputy attempted to stop the vehicle but the van continued to flee the scene, the report said.

Cocke County Sheriff’s Office wrote that the Tennessee Highway Patrol deployed a spike strip on the vehicle between mile markers 435 and 432.

According to the report, the van continued on West Highway 25/70 toward Newport, failed to stop at several red lights, crossed the fog line and drove at a high rate of speed.

The van soon crashed into a tree line on East Highway 25/70, passed Farra Way.

Deputies found the driver who was walking on Old Asheville Highway in front of the Cocke County Landfill. A deputy attempted to stop the driver and he continued to walk away, the report said.

Newport Police officers responded to the scene and “forced the male onto the ground and assisted [in] taking him into custody.”

The male has been identified as 34-year-old Christian Ricoy Rodriguez, of New York. The sheriff said he is not the escapee out of Virginia.

He has been charged with speeding, evading arrest, resisting stop, frisk, halt, arrest or search, and driving unlicensed and reckless driving.

Rodriguez is currently at the Cocke County Jail.