From the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office
ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. (Tuesday, June 10, 2025) – On Tuesday, June 10, 2025 at approximately 12:15 am, deputies with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office were attempting to locate a stolen vehicle (Kia) in the area of East Ritchie Road. They had received a call from the owner of the vehicle who had a tracking device on the vehicle and GPS was showing it to be somewhere in the area.
Deputies responded and located the stolen Kia in a wooded area off the dead end of East Ritchie Road, along with two other Kia’s that had also been reported stolen. Two of those vehicles had been reported stolen out of Rowan County and the other one had been reported stolen out of Salisbury.
While processing the scene of the located vehicles, the deputies received a call from a dispatcher stating that a blue Kia had just ran her off the road and was traveling in their direction on East Ritchie Road. The deputies had earlier received information from Salisbury PD officers, that there was a stolen blue Kia that had not yet been located.
The deputies on the scene then observed a blue Kia with two black male occupants, pull up into the area. When the suspects saw the officers, the driver made an abrupt turn, crossing over a ditch and almost hitting a tow truck driver that had arrived on scene. The suspect vehicle fled from the area and a pursuit began.
The pursuit continued on Old Concord Road towards Cabarrus County at speeds of 70 to 100 mph. Multiple attempts were made by one of the deputies to terminate the pursuit by the use of the PIT maneuver, but the attempts were unsuccessful due to the suspect swerving into and hitting the deputy’s patrol vehicle.
The pursuit eventually came to an end, in Cabarrus County at the intersection of Old Concord Road and Irish Potato Road, when the deputy was able to successfully utilize the pit maneuver to disable the fleeing vehicle. The deputy’s vehicle was damaged as a result of a tire that came off of the suspects vehicle.
The only occupants of the vehicle were both juveniles, and they were taken into custody. The driver refused transport by EMS, but the passenger chose to be transported to the hospital to be checked out, but there were no visible signs of injury.
Deputies contacted The Department of Juvenile Justice seeking a secure custody order for Felony Fleeing to Elude, and Assault with A Deadly Weapon on Law Enforcement for the ramming of the deputy’s vehicle, but the secure custody order was denied by Juvenile Justice.
Due to the fact that the secure custody order was denied, and in the State of North Carolina, certain chapter 20, motor vehicle laws are not subject to Raise the Age and are handled in adult court, the 16-year-old driver was taken before a magistrate for Felony Flee to Elude Arrest. He was then transported and placed in a juvenile detention facility under a $50,000.00 bond.
This case is still under investigation and other charges are likely to be filed with juvenile court authorities.