By Michael Harrison, The MillTown News
FORT MILL — A Fort Mill police officer who wanted to question someone suspected of driving a stolen vehicle ended up chasing the suspect by car and later on foot into Rock Hill late Wednesday night, according to an incident report.
The officer checked the license plate on a vehicle in the parking lot of the Circle K on U.S. 21 Bypass and was told by a dispatcher the plate belonged to a vehicle that had been reported stolen. The officer attempted to stop the vehicle, a Ford Expedition, as it left the parking lot, but the driver ignored the blue lights and instead sped over the Catawba River Bridge and toward Cherry Road in Rock Hill “at a high rate of speed,” the report states.
According to the report, the driver of the Ford SUV, identified as Bradley Thomas Moore of Liberty, “crossed over into on-coming traffic” on Cherry Road and back into the correct lane before turning onto Celriver Road, where the Ford again lurched into the opposite lane and toward traffic before the driver apparently lost control as it crossed the concrete median.
The vehicle went behind a closed business “where the driver exited the vehicle while it was still in motion,” the report states. The officer said in the report that the Ford then crashed into a parked trailer.
While Moore ran, the officer first chased him with his patrol car through a construction site and then on foot after Moore jumped a concrete barrier, the report states. The chase continued as Moore jumped another barrier, but eventually followed the officer’s command to stop and get on the ground.
Moore, 37, was charged with receiving stolen goods, being in possession of a stolen vehicle and possession/ concealing and attempting to distribute narcotics. The incident report states Moore was found with eight grams of meth and one gram of marijuana when he was arrested.
On Thursday, Moore was listed as an inmate at the Moss Justice Center in York, where he was also listed as being held for another agency, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office website.
Michael Harrison is editor of The Milltown News (fort-mill-news.com), a partner with FortMillSun.com in reporting on crime in the Fort Mill area.