Virginia state troopers stopped a teenager from jumping off the Woodrow Wilson Memorial Bridge Saturday after a car chase, catching the 17-year-old by his sweatshirt and lifting him back to safety, according to police.

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       The chase began shortly before midnight Friday, according to the Virginia State Police, when a trooper saw a vehicle traveling south on Interstate 95 that had been reported stolen and was wanted in connection with several burglaries in the region, most recently in Prince George’s County, Md.

       The trooper activated lights and sirens but the vehicle sped away, with police chasing it onto the Prince William Parkway, back onto I-95 headed north and — despite the use of a tire deflation device by police — through Springfield and east on Interstate 495. Even after losing its right front tire, the vehicle kept going.

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       Police surrounded the car near the Wilson Bridge to slow it down, but the driver and passenger jumped out of the still-rolling vehicle and fled on foot, according to police. The vehicle rolled into the back of one of the police vehicles.

       The 16-year-old male passenger was taken into custody, but the 17-year-old male driver jumped up onto a railing of the bridge. The trooper yelled at him not to jump because the Potomac River was beneath him, police said. But as the trooper reached him, the teenager let go of the railing. The trooper grabbed his sweatshirt, holding on until a second trooper arrived and they were able to pull him back onto the pavement.

       The driver was charged with one felony count of eluding police. Both driver and passenger were transported to the Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center, and jurisdictions investigating several robberies and burglaries associated with the two were alerted, according to police.