Mount Olive police chase ends on foot with arrest
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on August 25, 2005 1:48 PM
MOUNT OLIVE -- A Mount Olive police officer was injured during a chase through the southern part of town Wednesday afternoon that ended with most of the department on hand to apprehend a man wanted for several traffic violations.
Officer Todd Dos Santos was treated and released from Wayne Memorial Hospital after the chase, which ended in the arrest of Ryan Allen of Dogwood Lane in Mount Olive on charges of driving without a license, fictitious license plate, resisting arrest and speeding to elude arrest. Allen was on probation with the state of New York, and his probation was transferred to North Carolina.
Dos Santos spotted the car while on patrol and ran its license tag through the law enforcement network. The tag came back belonging to another vehicle.
The officer tried to stop the car, and the chase was on. According to officers' reports, Allen's car reached speeds in excess of 50 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Chief Emmett Ballree and several other officers were involved in the chase after Allen ditched the car in the back yard of a house on East Hillsboro Street. He ran into a field, with officers in pursuit on foot close behind him. Dos Santos injured his leg during the chase.
Sgt. C.J. Weaver said Allen ran into at least one house and then into a large soybean field at the intersection of County Road and Church Street, pursued by Weaver, Ballree, Capt. Brian Rhodes, Lt. Tommy Brown and a rookie officer, Matt Sasser, who was on his second day on the job.
The officers arrested Allen in the field after nearly a half hour of pursuit.
When asked about Chief Ballree getting involved in the chase, Weaver said, "When one of us gets hurt, everybody comes."