When police attempt to pull you over, it is best to stop. Even if you lose the police during a pursuit, they will often already have your license plate number and a vehicle description, and they will work even harder to find you. If an accident is caused during a pursuit, any charges you might have faced will likely be harsher.

A North Carolina man who was a passenger in a police chase that resulted in the death of a Wilmington police officer was sentenced in federal court to more than 10 years in prison for drug charges and money laundering charges. He pleaded guilty to distributing and possessing with the intent to distribute more than 50 kilograms of marijuana, money laundering and possession of a firearm.

According to a press release from the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the 28-year-old passenger was involved with a drug trafficking organization that brought marijuana from Canada into North Carolina.

The man allegedly distributed more than 150 kilograms of marijuana from 2007 to 2009. He was involved in a police chase in 2008 in which he was arrested with more than $192,000 in cash. He was also arrested in another state later that year with a vacuum sealer and a money counting machine. Although police were alerted to the scene because someone reported smelling marijuana, no drugs were actually found.

The driver in the 2009 fatal police chase was convicted of second-degree murder.

A federal prison sentence is not to be taken lightly. They do not allow for the possibility of parole, and the man also will face supervised release once he gets out. He possibly took a plea deal to receive a lesser sentence then if the case went to trial.

Source: Wilmington Star News, "Drug trafficker sentenced to prison," F.T. Norton, Feb. 16, 2012