Teenager sparks police chase in village
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on June 4, 2009 1:46 PM
An alleged 16-year-old car thief led officers from three different law enforcement agencies on an hour-long chase Tuesday evening, ranging in speeds from 25 miles per hour to near 100 miles per hour.
The chase, which began in Walnut Creek at about 7:30 p.m., ended on Hood Swamp Road outside Goldsboro about 8:30 p.m., with state Highway Patrol troopers cuffing Jonathan David Carter of Shelley Drive, Goldsboro, after he tried to run from his wrecked vehicle.
Carter, who began his alleged evening of law breaking at Wayne Community College, was not hurt in the accident and refused treatment after suffering only a few cuts and lacerations, Walnut Creek police officer B.L. Belden said.
He currently is in the Wayne County Jail, where he faces a total of 12 charges and a $16,000 bond.
Maj. Mike Hopper with the Goldsboro Police Department said it all began with a report of a stolen vehicle at Wayne Community College -- a 1996 GMC Suburban owned by Richard Eugene Earnest of Jonathan Lane, LaGrange.
Hopper said Earnest reported the car, last known secure at 5:10 p.m., missing at about 5:25 p.m.
Belden then said that at about 6:45 p.m. he received a report of a $78.32 gas drive-off from the Handy Mart 163 at the intersection of U.S. 70 and Beston Road.
He said the clerk was able to get the vehicle's license plate number and description, both of which fit the stolen SUV.
From there, he continued, the tale took an interesting twist.
"After I finished writing my report (at the Walnut Creek police office), I was getting back in my car when I saw a vehicle matching the description on Mill Road. I got up behind it on Lake Shore Drive in front of the (Walnut Creek) country club, called in the tags and found out it was the vehicle," Belden said. "That was when I called in the chase."
He explained that he followed Carter on Lake Shore Drive at approximately 25 miles per hour. From there, they traveled onto Lake Wakena Road, where speeds increased to about 45 miles per hour.
Then, Belden said, the suspect turned right onto U.S. 70 West where speeds reached 60 to 65 miles per hour.
Belden said Carter then turned around at The Country Butcher and continued back down U.S. 70 East, until turning right onto Beston Road North.
At that point, Belden said, speeds decreased to 40 to 45 miles per hour and state troopers took the lead.
"The Highway Patrol then tried to get in front of him and do a rolling road block, but he swerved around, hitting the rear of a patrol car," he said.
By the time they reached Hood Swamp Road, Belden said, speeds had increased to 90 to 100 miles per hour.
But the chase ended shortly thereafter, he said, when Carter wrecked his vehicle about a mile, mile-and-a-half from U.S. 13.
"He hit an embankment and went almost straight up into the air and spun around a couple times like a tornado," Belden said. "He then jumped and ran, and the Highway Patrol and (sheriff's) deputies cuffed him.
"They were the ones who got him. I just initiated the chase. Without them it would have been very hard to stop him."
Carter is charged with larceny of a motor vehicle by the Goldsboro Police Department; larceny of fuel, possession of a stolen vehicle and fleeing to elude by the Walnut Creek Police Department; and assault with a deadly weapon on a government official, driving while impaired, driving consuming alcohol under the age of 21, resisting a public officer, fleeing to elude, driving while license revoked and driving to endanger by the N.C. Highway Patrol.