Man flees on foot after pursuit with Gaston PD

Gaston, SC (Paul Kirby) – A man led Gaston police officers on a pursuit that finally ended in Calhoun County when Major Stephen Watkins used a PIT maneuver to spin the fleeing car out and bring the chase to an end. Watkins said the man then fled into the woods on foot at that point and eventually escaped.

The chase started when Watkins noticed a car enter the town that fit the description of a vehicle that had led Swansea officers on a pursuit earlier. The navy-blue Dodge Dart still had the same paper tag on it as it did when the Swansea officer had tried to stop it. When Watkins activated his lights and siren to stop the car, the driver initiated the pursuit.

The driver led Watkins down Busbee Road and eventually worked his way back east toward Calhoun County. At the intersection of Old State and Big Beaver Creek Roads, the car turned and exposed its rear quarter panel giving Watkins his opportunity to bump it with his cruiser causing it to spin. This pursuit intervention technique is done by officers especially trained in its use and it causes the fleeing car to spin around and the driver to lose control. The man jumped from the car and ran into the woods. Gaston officers put their bloodhound on the track, but the heat prevented her from working long enough to find the man.

Watkins said that a search of the car turned up a fully loaded 9-mm magazine for a gun, some marijuana, and some drug paraphernalia. The car hasn’t been registered in some time and had no insurance covering it. Watkins said that the man who fled was a black male wearing a navy-blue t-shirt, red shorts, and was believed to be in his early to late twenties. They are using investigative techniques to find the man at this point.