CLINTON - A Clinton Police Department patrol car was stolen by a Salemburg teen-ager after he and two others were stopped by an officer on Bonnetsville Road early this morning for their alleged involvement in a larceny of beer from the BP station on Sunset Avenue, according to reports.

Clinton police Officer Robbie King stopped the vehicle, a burgundy Ford Mustang, suspected to be used in the larceny, for speeding 67 mph in a 45 mph on Bonnetsville Road.
King patted down the driver, Jason Howell Boyette, 19, and placed him in the front seat of the patrol car, according to reports. When King went to the Mustang to talk to the other two passengers, he stated in reports, he heard his 2004 Ford Crown Victoria patrol car pulling away.

Sgt. Kenneth Cannady, with the Sampson County Sheriff's Department, heard that King had stopped a Mustang for speeding on Bonnetsville Road and went to assist in the stop, according to reports at the Sheriff's Department.

As he approached N.C. 24, Cannady stated, he observed a Clinton police car traveling at a high rate of speed toward Salemburg with its emergency lights flashing.
Cannady followed the patrol vehicle in excess of 70 mph. As he approached Zoar Church Road, Boyette attempted to turn right, but ran the car off the road, crashing through two ditches before stopping in a field, reports state.

Boyette, of 1571 Nixon Road, Autryville, was taken into custody and charged by the Sheriff's Department with larceny of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen goods or property, felony flee to elude arrest, failing to heed lights and sirens, resisting a public officer, injury to county property and injury to personal property. He was given a $37,000 secured bond for the charges.

Boyette also was charged by the Clinton Police Department with driving while impaired, provisional license and no operator's license. His bond was set at $3,000 for those charges.

Police Chief Mike Brim said this morning that an internal investigation would be conducted into King's actions at the traffic stop.

"We're making sure that Officer King followed proper procedure in suspect detention and vehicle protocol," said Brim.

Also arrested in the alleged larceny were the other two passengers in the Mustang, Jonathan Preston Rackley, 18, of 6725 High House Road, Salemburg, and Terry Lynn Smith, 30, of 3485 Roseboro Hwy., Roseboro. Both were charged with misdemeanor larceny and placed under $1,500 secured bond.

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