By Thomasi McDonald, newsobserver.com, found on 02/02/03
Four Oaks - A routine traffic stop for a seat-belt violation went
haywire Thursday when a man stole a Johnston County sheriff deputy's
cruiser, dragged an officer alongside the vehicle and rammed a
Highway Patrol car before leading officers on a 15-minute, 100 mph
chase, authorities reported.
By the time the chase ended, Todd Jerome Johnson, 36, of Federal Road
had racked up at least 18 charges, including assault on a government
official, resisting arrest, driving while impaired, speeding to elude
arrest, felony hit and run, reckless driving, improper passing, larceny
of the deputy's car and attempted larceny of the Highway Patrol cruiser,
the Johnston County Sheriff's Office reported.
"It was a 15-minute ordeal," said Capt. Marty Benson with Johnston
County Sheriff's Office.
Johnson was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by state trooper D.B.
Finch at Raleigh Road, near the intersection of U.S. 210 and Interstate
40, Benson said.
Johnson - who had several outstanding warrants on charges that included
assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious
injury, felony larceny, and breaking and entering -- jumped from the
vehicle and ran, Benson said.
"The trooper stopped the vehicle because the driver wasn't wearing a
seat belt," Benson said, "If (Johnson) had sat there and kept his mouth
shut, nothing would have happened."
The driver, who was eventually charged with a seat-belt violation and not
having a driver's license, remained at the scene.
Johnston County sheriff Deputy Tammy J. Smith and Finch pursued the suspect.
But he managed to elude them and eventually made it back to a spot where
Smith's cruiser and Finch's Highway Patrol vehicle were parked, Benson said.
The man jumped into the driver's seat of the trooper's vehicle but jumped
out when the deputy tried to stop him, Benson said.
The man made it to the deputy's cruiser and sped off, dragging Smith as she
hung onto the vehicle. She fell from the vehicle moments before it rammed
into the trooper's patrol car, Benson said.
"The deputy sustained some scrapes and bruises on the right arm and leg,"
Benson said. Smith turned down emergency transport to a local hospital
but was later treated at an urgent care center in Smithfield, authorities
reported.
The stolen cruiser reached speeds of up to 100 mph before crashing in the
front yard of a residence on North Main Street, authorities reported.
Johnson was being held in Johnston County jail under $364,500 bail, a jail
spokesman said Thursday night.
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