High speed chase ends in wreck
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 28, 2008 2:00 AM
Wayne County Sheriff Carey Winders had just decided to order deputies to try a dangerous maneuver to stop a fleeing suspect's vehicle when the man lost control of the truck and struck a light pole early Christmas morning.
The crash ended a high-speed chase that began at the intersection of William and Ash streets and ended on Big Daddy's Road around 1 a.m. Christmas Day.
The driver, Kevin Troy Roger, 34, 114 Rackley Drive faces a slew of charges by the Goldsboro Police Department and Sheriff's Office in connection with the chase, including felony assault with a deadly weapon, a 1997 Dodge truck, on a government official, Winders.
The Sheriff's Office also charged Koger with resisting and delaying a public officer.
Goldsboro police charged Koger with driving while impaired, felony fleeing to elude and a stoplight violation.
He was jailed under a $7,500 bond.
Earlier in the chase deputies had deployed stopsticks in attempt to stop Koger. However, Koger continued to flee, at times reaching speeds of 80 to 90 mph while driving on the vehicle's rims.
Winders had positioned his vehicle at the intersection of Fields and the Pikeville-Princeton roads in an attempt to block Koger.
"I could tell that he wasn't slowing down, and I pulled out of the way to avoid a head-on collision," Winders said.
Winders said that Koger had run several people off of the road and had ran a stoplight at Pikeville.
"I could see that he just wasn't going to stop, sparks were flying from the rims and actually caused some small fires alongside the road," Winders said.
"My biggest fear was that someone out early could get killed. He was dangerous to a lot of people."
Winders said he was especially concerned in light of the wrecks that claimed the lives of four people earlier in the week.
"That was on my mind, too," he said. "It was my decision that if he was going to use deadly force against us it was time to use it to stop him."
The maneuver involves using a vehicle to tap the rear of the fleeing vehicle causing the driver to lose control.
But Koger lost control before the maneuver could be made, running off the right side of the road, and striking a utility pole with the driver side door.
Koger was not injured, Winders said.
Winders said that a Highway Patrol unit responding to the chase and a Pikeville fire fighter responding to the fires caused by the Koger vehicle collided on the way to the scene.