Alfred E. Acree almost gave deputies the slip Saturday night, but he couldn't outrun his own sneakers.

The alleged drug dealer's trendy new lighted shoes made him a marked man during a four-minute chase through Charles City County's thick woods.

Officers stopped the New Kent man's van just after midnight to arrest him for possessing and selling cocaine, but Acree jumped out and ran into the dark woods in his new L.A. Gear shoes, said Sheriff's Department Investigator Anthony Anderson.

"Every time he took a step, we knew exactly where he was," Anderson said. "It was dark with the woods and the briar patch bushes, but we were able to find him with his tennis shoes lighting up."

They caught the 20-year-old and found 12 bags of cocaine worth $800 in his clothing, Anderson said.

"That particular night he wished he didn't wear those shoes," he said. The shoes retail for $90.

The shoes have a battery-operated light that flashes when the heel is pressed, said Cliff Holly, salesman at the Athlete's Foot at Coliseum Mall in Hampton.

"Everybody's asking for them," Holly said. "You know how fads are."