Vass Patrol Car Stolen, Wrecked in Chase
By Matthew Moriarty: Staff Writer
Found on 11/25/02

Carthage, North Carolina - A suspected felon in a stolen 
patrol car led police on a three-county car chase in the morning.

The suspect wrecked the patrol car near Summer Hill Church
Road in Carthage and then ran into the woods. 

Officers from six law-enforcement agencies searched for the
suspect for several hours found Kenneth Galbreath, 35,
of Red Springs in a wooded area near the crash site.

The chase began about 1 a.m., when Vass patrol officer
Scott McInnis stopped a car heading north of Vass on U.S. 1
for a possible insurance violation. There were two people in 
the car. A Moore County sheriff's deputy arrived a few minutes 
later to provided backup.

Often, during a traffic stop involving more than one person 
in a single vehicle, the officer will ask one of the people to 
come sit in the patrol car to separate them, according to Chief
Rick Bibey. 

In this case, because it was such a cold night, McInnis may 
have just been offering the chance to keep warm, Bibey said.
That could explain why McInnis left the patrol car running.

McInnis put Galbreath, who was a passenger in the Infiniti, 
in the passenger seat of the car. That's when Mclnnis became 
suspicious that the two men were giving him aliases at the 
time, McInnis had not taken either man into police custody.

McInnis got out of his car, walked to the deputy's car and 
asked the deputy to radio the Sheriff's Department for a 
book of mug shots. At that point, officers said, Galbreath 
jumped into the driver's side of the patrol car and sped away.

Bibey said that both men in the Infinity were wanted on felony 
charges in other countries. He suspects that Galbreath heard 
the deputy on the radio requesting a book of mug shots and
fearing officers would discover the warrants against him -
tried to get away.

The sheriff's deputy took off after the suspect in the police
patrol car, leaving McInnis with the driver of the Infiniti. 
The other suspect was cooperative, even though police say he 
has yet to give them his real name. He told police that he is 
Marcello Patterson, 35, which is the name on the car registration. 
Police suspect that is not his real name. 

Galbreath led officers on a chase through Carthage, parts of 
Lee County and Chatham County, and the outskirts of Pinehurst
and Southern Pines.

During the chase, police said, it seemed that Galbreath anticipated
their moves as they tried to catch him. There is a police radio
in the squad car and Galbreath could have heard the officers talking
to each other.

"He possibly had access to our radio transmissions," Bibey said.

The suspect wrecked the patrol car near Carthage but escaped serious
injury and ran into the woods. Officers from Vass, Whispering Pines,
Taylortown, Carthage, the Sheriff's Department and the state Department
of Corrections searched several hours for the suspect with the
help of two police dogs.

Police charged Galbreath with felony larceny of a motor vehicle, 
several moving violations, including fleeing to elude arrest, and
damage to property in excess of $28,000 for the patrol car, which
Bibey believe was totaled. The town of Vass insures the patrol car.

Bibey said the investigation is continuing. He said it appears that
McInnis acted properly.

"At this time no violation of policy appears to have taken place,"
he said.


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