Man arrested after 100 mph chase on US 117
By Jack Stephens
Published in News on February 22, 2006 1:56 PM
A 19-year-old man from Wilmington was arrested before dawn today by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office and charged with numerous vehicle offenses after a chase that reached speeds of about 100 mph and at times on the wrong side of U.S. 117 South.
The suspect was spotted by Deputy Ryan Sasser at 1:51 a.m. in a car that was parked along U.S. 117 Alternate near Smith Mobile Home Park. Sasser turned around, and the man fled into the mobile home park.
Deputies said a chase ensued.
The man damaged his vehicle in the park while driving through bushes, but he then came back onto U.S. 117 Alternate and drove south toward Mount Olive. He turned onto N.C. 55, where a Mount Olive police officer joined the pursuit.
The suspect then turned into the southbound lanes of U.S. 117, the four-lane divided highway, while going north. He sped away at about 100 mph, as other deputies alerted two oncoming motorists who pulled off the road and stopped.
At the traffic light at O'Berry Road, the suspect turned into the northbound lanes while continuing toward Goldsboro. Sheriff's Sgt. Kenneth Lupton put out stop sticks, about a mile south of U.S. 117 Alternate, to puncture the suspect's tires.
The suspect ran over the sticks and continued on the rims until reaching the Wayne County Fairgrounds. At that point, he lost control of his car and it ran off the right side, crashed through a fence taking out about 100 feet, hit a billboard pole in the parking lot, spun around and took out another section of fence.
Flying debris from the fence struck a patrol car driven by Mount Olive police Sgt. Jimmy Myers.
The suspect's car then came back on U.S. 117, struck a patrol car driven by Sheriff's Cpl. Craig Edwins, crossed all four lanes of traffic and stopped in a ditch in front of Rhyme University, a day-care center, at 2854 U.S. 117 South.
The driver, Timothy Wayne Tabor Jr., was handcuffed, taken to the emergency room at Wayne Memorial Hospital and treated for minor injuries.
A blood sample was taken to determine his level of impairment and what substances he might have used. Any driver under the age of 21 is presumed to be impaired, regardless of the amount of alcohol, under state law.
Tabor was released to the officers. He was charged with feloniously fleeing to elude arrest, driving while impaired, driving while his license was revoked, reckless driving, injury to real property and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, his vehicle. He was placed in the Wayne County Jail in lieu of a $25,000 secured bond.