THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230479
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
A high-speed chase that started in Kitty Hawk, roared into Virginia, swung around to Elizabeth City and then swept back to the Outer Banks ended Thursday afternoon when the fugitives surrendered with an empty gas tank to unarmed Kill Devil Hills firefighters.
Pursuing patrolmen said the driver, racing a 1986 Oldsmobile at speeds up to 85 mph, tried to run two Chesapeake police cars off the road, rammed a North Carolina Highway Patrol car twice, and attempted to hit two other law enforcement cars during the 125-mile highway drama.
No one was injured. The fugitives apparently were not armed.
The driver and a shirtless female passenger meekly obeyed when a firefighter stepped up to the car and told the driver to raise his hands when they coasted into the driveway of the Kill Devils Hills Fire Station.
Jeffery Ray Harrison, 27, of Williamston, N.C., and Tonya Renea Price, 22, of Ahoskie, N.C., were arrested about 5:10 p.m. after they stopped near four firefighters waiting to watch them go by. The men had been following the 2 1/2-hour chase on their radios, and had a hand-painted sign saying ``GO OJ'' ready to hold up as the car sped past.
Bill Jones, shift captain at the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department, said he was stunned when the fugitives pulled up.
``I told him to raise his hands, and he did,'' said Jones, grinning. ``Ever see a fugitive surrender to a fire department before?''
State troopers and local police arrested the suspects, who didn't resist. Police said they do not know why Price was wearing only a bra and pants when she was apprehended. She clutched a blanket around her when she stepped out of the car.
Harrison and Price were held Thursday night in the Detention Center at Manteo. Highway Patrol Sgt. D.C. Garriss said ``a number'' of felony and misdemeanor charges would be filed in Dare, Camden and Currituck counties.
Harrison was wanted in Martin County, accused of stealing the white Cutlass from his mother. He and Price were charged with larceny, a misdemeanor, by Kill Devil Hills police.
According to police, Price and Harrison stole some items from Kmart in Kill Devil Hills, assaulted the security guard in the parking lot and sped off in the car toward Virginia. Police chased them across the Wright Memorial Bridge into Currituck County, where the Highway Patrol took over. At the Virginia line, Chesapeake police rolled into action, but the suspects managed to make a U-turn and evade the police cars.
Chesapeake police spokeswoman Elizabeth Jones said that at one point during the pursuit on the Great Bridge bypass, the driver attempted to run a police car off the highway. That car struck another Chesapeake police car.
When the chase reached the north end of the bypass, the driver raced through the interchange with South Battlefield Boulevard and barreled back to North Carolina. The fugitives veered off N.C. Route 168 and headed toward Elizabeth City on N.C 34, but U-turned again right before the drawbridge in Camden County.
Police, meanwhile, had blocked entrance to the highway from the side streets and warned school buses off the road as the chase swung to the south again down Routes 168 and 158 to the Outer Banks.
After the fugitives were nabbed, Kill Devil Hills Police Chief Jim Gradeless said ``it was kind of a cartoon thing for it to escalate like this.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot
Tonya Renea Price, 22, of Ahoskie, above, was the passenger in a car
that police chased for 125 miles. At right, the driver, Jeffery Ray
Harrison, 27, of Williamston, is taken into custody Thursday.
KEYWORDS: HIGH-SPEED CHASE AUTOMOBILE THEFT ARREST by CNB