‘Erratic’ driver stole 4 cars during 2-hour pursuit across Charlotte, police say

A driver wanted for questioning in a home burglary stole four cars while leading police on a two-hour pursuit throughout Charlotte and parts of Upstate South Carolina on Wednesday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said.

Police arrested a suspect after he collided with a driver in Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood.

At least two drivers told media outlets they tried to stop the man during the pursuit by hitting him with their vehicles, but still he got away.

Police said the suspect endangered other drivers by speeding, swerving and otherwise driving erratically along Interstate 77 and busy Charlotte roads. On South Boulevard, he blew through red lights and briefly drove the wrong way, WSOC aerial footage showed.

Police said they never “chased” the driver but instead used Snoopy, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department helicopter, to track the driver as officers followed well behind.

No one was injured, police said.

“This is absolutely appalling that someone would have this much disregard for the general public,“ CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said a statement after the driver’s arrest. “The CMPD pursuit policy prohibited us from chasing this suspect up until the point when the suspect carjacked the last vehicle, not knowing if an abduction had taken place.

“In these situations, police are in a no-win situation,” the chief said.

Jennings said the first three cars stolen resulted from auto thefts, not carjackings, and that’s why officers pursued the driver after the fourth car was stolen.

The chief said he “was proud of our CMPD response in providing closure without serious injury.”

Home burglary prompted pursuit, police say

The pursuit started about 11 a.m. after a report of a home burglary, police told The Charlotte Observer.

The man wanted for questioning in the case is suspected of initially stealing a Jeep and then a white pickup truck, police said.

Just before noon, WSOC’s helicopter spotted the driver “speeding and swerving” on Interstate 77 near the Clanton Road exit, the station reported.

A blown tire forced the suspect into a Walmart parking lot off South Tryon Street near Interstate 485 in southwest Charlotte, according to CMPD.

Aerial footage from WSOC’s helicopter showed the shirtless driver jump into a gold sedan. The suspect pulled beside a white pickup, and a woman stepped from the truck and ran, the footage showed.

A woman told WSOC the driver stole her car at the Walmart after jumping out of his pickup.

She said she saw a woman leave the pickup before the driver sped away.

“No idea what happened to her,” the woman told WSOC. ”It happened so fast.”

The suspect drove away in the sedan despite a driver in a black pick-up trying to rear-end him to stop him, according to the station’s footage.

WSOC aerial footage showed the driver on Nations Ford Road, Tyvola Road, Woodlawn Road and Old Pineville Road in south Charlotte before he veered onto South Boulevard and then onto Archdale Road.

The driver at one point briefly went the wrong way on northbound South Boulevard, the footage showed.

As Snoopy followed overhead, the driver wound through the South End neighborhood and along South Tryon Street and Carson Boulevard near uptown. No CMPD cars could be seen pursuing the driver, the station reported.

The driver headed into uptown on South Tryon Street before traveling toward I-277 westbound and then onto northbound I 77.

At 1 p.m., the driver was in a black SUV in South Carolina after heading down Johnston Road in south Charlotte, WSOC reported.

His fate was sealed an hour later when he crossed the state line again and drove into Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood.

The driver of a dark gray Toyota Tundra pickup hit the stolen car several times.

In an interview with WCNC, the unidentified driver of the Tundra said he was acting on instinct.

The driver said he was on his way to get his wisdom teeth pulled and was watching the chase on a TV news app.

”I was all, ‘That s--- crazy,’” and that’s when he saw the stolen vehicle.

The Tundra has a steel bumper, he said.

”I was like, let me put it to the test,” the driver said.

He hit the car at least six times.

”It’s just the adrenaline kicking in,” he said. “It was just everything happened so quick. I was trying to see (that the other driver) not hit somebody else.”

Police hadn’t named the suspect by 4 p.m. or announced charges.

The driver who smacked the errant driver’s stolen vehicle said he’s owned the Tundra for about two years and recently bought a car, so he didn’t mind totaling his pickup.

”I know I crashed it for the right purpose,” he said.

Police didn’t say if the Tundra owner will face charges. On Twitter, CMPD asked drivers not “to engage this suspect or intervene in the pursuit.”

The suspect soon collided with William Kirk, who was driving a black pickup truck at South Boulevard and East Boulevard.

”All of a sudden I’m hit,” Kirk told a Charlotte Observer reporter at the scene. “I stopped, twisted around, that was it.”

“Thankfully,” he said, he wasn’t hurt.

”Just a little adrenaline,” he said about how he was feeling, “but fortunately, I don’t feel anything at this point.”