A Texas man was arrested after speeding in a stolen pickup truck on a South Carolina highway before the engine caught fire, the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said Friday.
A deputy who was patrolling Interstate 95 On the morning of June 25, I noticed a pickup truck driving northbound over the speed limit. The deputy’s radar recorded his speed at 90 mph, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputy pursued the truck whose driver was “driving recklessly”, including passing other vehicles on the shoulder. During the chase, the truck’s engine caught fire and sprayed fuel on the officer’s car. The truck then left the road near milepost 140 and crashed into a fence on the side of the interstate.
The officer ran to the vehicle to rescue the man and take him into custody, but another officer who had arrived on the scene saw the man fleeing along the fence, then crossing the highway and entering a wooded area.
More deputies and K-9 teams arrived and began searching for the man. They found him hiding in a ditch, where he was taken into custody.
Donald Edward Reed Jr., 33, of Prairie Grove, Texas, was charged with failing to stop at a blue light, speeding 30 mph over the speed limit and striking lamps on or near the highway. The Sumter Sheriff’s Office identified him as a “violent criminal” and a “threat to law enforcement.”
Further investigation revealed that the truck had been stolen from a Colleton County resident.
Reed refused emergency medical services at the scene but was taken to the hospital to be checked out. He was then taken to the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, where he is being held by Colleton County Sheriff’s Office.
