We hate to see this…
According to North Carolina Highway Patrol, troopers were chasing a Dodge Charger on May 9 when the suspect slammed into a pickup truck, killing both passengers inside. This is the exact sort of thing we hate hearing about, because it could happen to anyone at anytime with little to no warning. We know a lot of people will want to blame the authorities for the chase, others will want to blame Dodge for making a car which can go fast, but in the end the responsibility for all this rests with the driver who decided to put everyone at risk.
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It was around 8:30 in the morning when a trooper saw the Mopar muscle car blasting through a 55 mph speed zone at 112 mph on U.S. 301 headed south by Oscar Loop Road in Wilson County. Instead of just blowing that huge speed violation off, the trooper started a pursuit, which is exactly what you would expect. After all, if laws aren’t enforced, what good are they really?
However, once the driver, 45-year-old Tanya Renee Terry, became aware the trooper was chasing him, he crossed the centerline. The local report doesn’t mention if the guy behind the wheel of the Dodge Charger was trying to pass a vehicle in the southbound lane, but photos show it’s a two-lane road with no median, just a double yellow line.
The head-on crash, which from the photos looks awful, happened just southwest of Kenley. While the front end of the Charger was obliterated, the two passengers in the pickup truck were killed on impact. Both the driver of the truck and the driver of the Charger were transported to the hospital with serious injuries.
All told, the chase between the North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper and the driver of the Charger lasted just 5 miles before it ended in the fatal collision. Now Terry is facing two counts of second-degree murder, speeding, and felony speeding to elude.
Photos via WNCN/Andrew Miller