Investigators with the Catawba County Sheriff's Office are looking for the man who stole a truck and led deputies on a high-speed chase and escaped after a deputy shot at the truck Monday night.
Deputies responded to a report of a truck stolen from the parking lot of Food Lion at 6113 South N.C. 16 at about 10:45 p.m. The victim said he'd left the keys in his 1988 Toyota and when he came out of the store, his truck was gone, said Chief Deputy Coy Reid.
While officers were interviewing the victim, a deputy spotted the vehicle a few miles away and gave chase.
The driver lost control of the truck and slid off the side of the road into a stand of pine trees near the Pumpkin Center Volunteer Fire Department at 2911 Lee Lawing Road in Lincoln County, Reid said.
The driver got out of the truck with a bottle of liquor in his hand. He refused to follow the deputy's commands to surrender and said he refused to go to jail.
He ordered the deputy to shoot him, took a drink from the bottle then got into the truck and drove it at the officer who fired several rounds, hitting the truck in the door panel, Reid said.
The driver continued down the road. The deputy gave chase, but lost sight of the truck.
The truck was found abandoned on the side of the road with a blown tire five to 10 minutes later when Lincoln County deputies responded to a 911 call reporting the truck's crash.
"He didn't actually hit anything. He just went off the side of the road," Reid said. "A man and a woman were seen running from the truck."
A Catawba County K9 team was called in, and the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office helped search for the suspects.
They were not found.
The Catawba County Sheriff's Office is investigating the stolen truck, and the SBI is investigating the officer involved shooting — a routine procedure.
The suspect is described as a white male in his mid-30s standing about 5-feet 11-inches tall. He was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt.
Anyone with information about the suspects or the incident is asked to call the Catawba County Sheriff's Office at 464-3112.
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