Car chase ends w/ 2 dead....This is my department!!

**K9brando** · 08-02-07, 10:20 PM

Originally Posted by Daily Herald

Lance Martin, Herald Senior Staff Writer

ROANOKE RAPIDS - One person is confirmed dead and another is in critical condition at Halifax Regional Medical Center following a chase this morning near Villages at Cross Creek off N.C. Highway 125.

Sgt. R.T. Futrell of the state Highway Patrol confirmed one person died and another was ejected from the vehicle, which hit a ditch embankment and severed a utility pole shortly before 9 a.m.

Officer Brandon Lynch was on routine patrol when he spotted the car and attempted to pull it over for a traffic stop on Old Farm Road, Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Greg Lawson said.

Instead of stopping, the driver of the vehicle accelerated and drove down Old Farm Road and Highway 125 at a high rate of speed before turning onto the road leading to Villages at Cross Creek.

Lawson said Lynch saw the vehicle hit the ditch embankment and the utility pole.

He said it is not immediately clear why the driver attempted to flee.

The person ejected from the vehicle landed approximately 50 feet from the point of impact, said Lt. Brian Hux of the Roanoke Valley Rescue Squad.

It took RVRS members approximately 10 minutes to cut through the vehicle using extrication equipment in an attempt to get the person inside the car out of the vehicle. The individual died at the scene.

Rescue squad workers and firefighters used sheets to conceal the person's body from onlookers.

Officials continued to investigate at press deadline. More details will be posted as they become available and in Friday's edition.

The second person did die from injuries sustained in the wreck. The officer is doing ok as well.

**Terminator** · 08-02-07, 10:39 PM

Glad Brandon is okay, Chris!

jrae · 08-02-07, 10:46 PM

wow...

**kjlaw** · 08-02-07, 11:03 PM

Glad to hear the officer is doing OK.

**Hawk1** · 08-02-07, 11:50 PM

Rule 1. Make sure you go home at the end of the day.

If the crooks hadn't been doing something wrong in the first instance, then there would have not been a pursuit. Bestr wishes to the officer for a speedy recovery.

**countybear** · 08-03-07, 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by Terminator

Glad Brandon is okay, Chris!

+1

**Ianl6** · 08-03-07, 05:18 AM

If the fools hadn't run they would still be alive today it was only a routine stop.

Best wishes for the officer.

**Jenna** · 08-03-07, 05:28 AM

Glad the officer is okay.

**K9brando** · 08-03-07, 02:51 PM

This is an update on the story from yesterday. Brandon is still doing very good.

Originally Posted by Daily Herald

Lance Martin, Herald Senior Staff Writer

ROANOKE RAPIDS - A fugitive who died in a car crash while fleeing from police Thursday had a 3 1/2-page-long rap sheet from Maryland, according to the N.C. State Highway Patrol.

Robert Anthony Teal, 36, of Aberdeen, Md., was considered armed and dangerous as well as a flight risk by Maryland authorities, Trooper P.D. Hughes told the Daily Herald this morning.

Hughes said it appeared Teal had been living in the Roanoke Rapids area for about a year and a half, laying low from Maryland authorities. He was dating a Roanoke Rapids woman, Adarian Jovana Martin, 25, who also died in the crash.

Martin died at the scene and resuscitation efforts on Teal at Halifax Regional Medical Center were unsuccessful following the crash, which occurred shortly before 9 a.m. on N.C. Highway 125 north.

Hughes said it is believed Martin was a willing passenger in the vehicle, in which Teal fled from Roanoke Rapids Police Officer Brandon Lynch. Lynch spotted the vehicle in the McDonald's parking lot off Julian Allsbrook Highway and had information he was driving with a revoked license.

Teal had a rap sheet from Maryland that included crimes committed as far back as 2005 and included drug sales, motor vehicle theft, child abuse and two counts of robbery.

Teal refused to stop for Lynch. He left the McDonald's parking lot, turned onto Summit Avenue and then onto Fourth Avenue. From Fourth Avenue, Lynch followed the vehicle onto Highway 125. Speeds approached 70 to 75 mph.

Futrell said that although Lynch engaged Teal in a chase, he decided not to close in on the vehicle, instead maintaining visual contact and keeping a safe distance.

Teal proceeded onto Highway 125 north and attempted to pass a pick-up. He swerved back into his lane, however, when he saw another vehicle approaching him head-on in the opposite lane. Teal lost control of the vehicle and struck a culvert, which caused the car to become airborne and strike a utility pole, severing it.

Teal was ejected and Martin had to be extricated from the vehicle.

Joe Shaw of Roanoke Rapids was in the pick-up Teal attempted to pass. Shaw said he saw Teal when he was ejected from the vehicle, about 30 yards from the point of initial impact.

An off-duty Roanoke Rapids firefighter, Shaw checked the pulses of both the man and the woman and said he stayed on the scene to assist in the extrication effort.

**Tuff** · 08-03-07, 03:40 PM

Glad to hear that no harm came to the officer, but it sounds like KARMA ran its course for the bad guy...inheirently taking his girlfrined with him..

I seriously hope that the officer does not lose any sleep over this...