Cabarrus Today

City of Locust Police Department issued the following announcement on Jan. 11.

On Tuesday, January 10th, 2023, shortly before 5:30 am, Locust officers became involved in a pursuit with a vehicle inside Locust city limits that resulted in the crash of the suspect vehicle inside Charlotte. 

It began with a third-party call of a potential stolen vehicle traveling toward Locust. Additional information received stated that a missing/endangered 17-year-old juvenile was also located in the vehicle as well. Locust officers located the vehicle and observed it to also run a red light at the Main/Central intersection. Officers attempted to initiate a routine traffic stop of the vehicle, but the vehicle did not comply and began to flee at a high rate of speed. A “stop stick” deployment inside Locust city limits was attempted but was unsuccessful.

A Locust officer was able to continue to pursue the vehicle on Albemarle Road into Charlotte. Once in Charlotte in the area of Faulconbridge Road approximately 17 miles from the start of the pursuit, the suspect vehicle attempted to elude by passing around vehicles but lost control and struck a tree off the roadway.   

It was confirmed the missing/endangered juvenile was in the vehicle and had been officially reported missing out of Moore County. They suffered minor injuries and were expected to be released from a medical facility this morning. The driver of the vehicle who is believed to be the non-custodial biological father of the juvenile suffered serious injuries in the crash and are currently listed in critical condition. The name of the juvenile will not be released and the name of the driver will not be released at this time. Charges against the driver for felony flee to elude along with any other applicable charges will be pursued.  

CMPD’s crash investigation unit is conducting an independent investigation into the traffic crash. Per Locust Police Department policy, every vehicle pursuit is also reviewed internally to assess pursuit policy adherence both in the initiation of the pursuit as well as actions taken during the pursuit. 

Updates to this press release will follow if warranted.

Original source can be found here.