ROCKINGHAM — Reports say that cops had to physically remove a man from his car after he led them on a chase through Richmond County.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office says that on Tuesday afternoon, a deputy patrolling on U.S. 1 saw a truck going south “at a high rate of speed,” which means faster than 80 mph.
The deputy then turned around to do a traffic stop, according to the sheriff’s office.
It is said that the truck driver turned onto L.G. Dewitt Road and “accelerated to high speeds” when the officer tried to stop the truck.
Other officers joined the chase and were said to have followed the driver, who was later identified as John Wesley Abrams, 47, of Rockingham, through the Ledbetter community and back onto southbound U.S. 1.
As the chase got close to the Rockingham city lines, deputies are said to have tried to box Abrams in to slow him down.
Abrams is said to have gone into a neighborhood where officers were able to stop him.
So that Abrams would not get out of his car, the sheriff’s office says that officers “forced the door open, removed the driver from the truck, and took him into custody.”
Abrams is facing several traffic tickets and a criminal charge of fleeing to avoid arrest. He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of resisting a public officer and damage to personal property.
As required by state law, the sheriff’s office is also said to have taken Abrams’ truck. “If the accumulated towing and storage charges reach a certain level,” the N.C. Court System says the car could be sold before the trial.
A judge will either give the car back to the owner or lienholder after the defendant’s trial if the vehicle is still subject to the seizure law, or the judge will give it to the local school board and call it “forfeited.”
Abrams is being held in the Richmond County Jail without bond. He is due in court on October 24.
Online court records show that Abrams is still facing traffic tickets in Richmond and Scotland counties for things like driving while drunk, driving with a suspended license, not having insurance, and having expired tags.
Abrams doesn’t seem to have any past charges in North Carolina.
There was also a chase with the sheriff’s office on Sunday, Oct. 6.
Reports say the chase began near Calvert Street in East Rockingham, went through Hamlet (with help from the Hamlet Police Department), and finished on a back street in Dobbins Heights.
The suspect, however, is said to have jumped out of the car and run.
People who are being charged with a crime are thought to be innocent until they are found guilty in court.