It was quite an evening for an alleged Kinston car thief.
Sunday at 5:32 p.m., a New Bern woman reported an acquaintance made off with her purse in Deep Run, containing $25 cash and a Green Dot visa card. At 8:09 p.m., Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office deputies reported spotting the suspect, Clayton Moore, in a Dodge Stratus near the area of Skinner’s Bypass. Moore, also suspected in the theft of a Toyota Corolla, allegedly fled south toward Sandy Bottom.
According to an LCSO statement, deputies deployed stop sticks that deflated the Stratus’ tires, but the release states Moore made it a mile down N. Croom Bland Road before the car struck an LCSO patrol vehicle and came to a stop. Moore was arrested at the scene.
“It wasn’t really a major incident with the car, it’s just a matter of him turning into the car,” Sheriff Chris Hill said Monday. “As you know, we have Rhino bumpers on the front of those cars to take those kind of hits, and so we’re just talking about a few scratches on the bumper.
“But, we brought that chase to a reasonable end, nobody got hurt, and the man’s in jail. So, that’s the outcome that we usually want.”
The LCSO statement said Moore appeared to have been drinking, and had the license plate of the Corolla in the back of the Stratus. Deputies seized drugs or narcotics of an undetermined value, the Stratus, a pair of car keys and a mobile phone.
Moore’s charged with stealing the Corolla, driving while intoxicated, felony eluding with a motor vehicle, larceny of the pocketbook and multiple traffic violations. He went before the Lenoir County District Court on several of these charges Monday.
A future court date was unavailable as of press time.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.