NC Traffic Stop Ends in Patrol Car Crash by Prisoner – 3 Injured
By Patricia Burkett - WBTW News 13
11/19/04 -Timmonsville, NC
A traffic stop ended with a wrecked patrol car… and a Timmonsville woman in jail.
Now Florence County authorities are lowing into their policies and procedures when it comes to traffic stops, and keeping you safe.
Florence County authorities thought they were dealing with another routine traffic stop Thursday night on Cashua Drive.
"Initially the car was pulled over for driving left of center and I believe throwing something that appeared to be a cigarette butt out the window," said Florence County Captain Todd Tucker.
Soon after the stop though, they realized they were dealing with a dangerous situation.
In the car were two people; police say one of them, Margie Sue Hutson, was a little woman with a big temper.
"She became belligerent with the deputies to the extent that she was arrested for disorderly conduct," said Tucker.
Police say they searched Hutson’s vehicle while she sat in the patrol car, making plans for a getaway.
Police say Hutson was cuffed and in the back of a patrol car when she somehow maneuvered her arms under her legs, rolled down the window, stuck them out the door, opened it and made her way to the front of the patrol car.
When she got control of the vehicle, she backed it out into oncoming traffic and crashed into a car with three people inside.
Investigators say the incident might have been prevented by more caution and training on the part of the officers, but they say, sometimes these kinds of accidents are unavoidable.
"You try to have the one-size-fits-all concept, but there are some times that you have people either that are very large or very small that sometimes the cuffs just aren’t restrictive on them," said Tucker.
Now Florence County authorities are out of a patrol car, and in the middle of revising their policies and procedures.
"We’re hoping to kind of use this as a good training tool here, so hopefully we won’t have this happen again," said Tucker.
Florence County authorities say the three people hurt in the other vehicle, were treated and released at an area hospital.
The Highway Patrol is handling the incident, and it has charged Hutson with a number of charges, including Grand Larceny of a Motor Vehicle, Felony D.U.I. and Resisting Arrest.