POLICE PURSUIT ENDS IN SOUTHWEST CHARLOTTE CRASH

A short police chase ended with a crash and the arrests of two people near Interstate 77 in southwest Charlotte shortly after noon Tuesday. Officers said they had tried to arrest the two men when they were spotted breaking into vehicles in the Wal-Mart parking lot in the Whitehall shopping complex on South Tryon Street. The two men hopped into their car and tried to run the officers over several times before speeding off, police said.

“Officers were able to get behind the vehicle and initiated a brief vehicle pursuit,” said Officer Hassan Peterson with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. “During the pursuit the suspects became reckless and our officers backed off.”

Police said the men were driving more than 90 miles an hour shortly before the car crashed into the side of a DISH Network van – right behind where the driver was sitting – on Arrowood Road. The occupants of the car took off running, but police were able to catch up to them and make the arrests.

Fortunately, no one was injured in the crash.

The policy for Charlotte-Mecklenburg police is to not chase suspects unless it is absolutely necessary – meaning that officers believe the suspects may cause danger to others’ lives. In this case, police said they felt the suspects could pose further danger to others because they tried to run over officers, so they decided to pursue.