ROCKINGHAM — A suspect is still at large after crashing a stolen truck during a chase with police early Saturday morning.
Officers with the Rockingham Police Department were patrolling between 3 and 3:30 a.m. in the Richmond Park neighborhood following a rash of recent vehicle break-ins when they noticed a truck sitting in the middle of Scotland Avenue with the lights off, according to Chief Billy Kelly.
Facing the truck, officers activated the blue flashing lights on the patrol car. The driver of the truck sped off.
When the truck passed by the patrol car, officers noticed the Richmond County Schools emblem on the side of the truck, Kelly said, adding that investigators later learned it had been left unlocked with the keys inside.
The officers turned around and were chasing the truck when the driver jumped out and ran while the vehicle was still in motion, the chief said. The truck crashed into a tree in the yard of a deputy with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and across the street from the home of a RPD detective.
A department K-9 was brought to the scene and tracked the suspect to a drainage tunnel in a wooded area near Hitchcock Creek, where the search ended, according to Kelly.
He added that investigators recovered evidence of a possible suspect or suspects responsible for the break-ins in the truck.
The chief said there had been nine vehicle break-ins reported from Richmond Park within the past two weeks. Although there were several where nothing was reported stolen, Kelly said all were unlocked and entered.
On Monday, the department issued the following statement on its Facebook page:
The suspect from Saturday morning has not yet been arrested.
