Driver in high speed police chase in NC and SC caught in Chester County, officials say
A Virginia man sought for two days after a high-speed police chase from North Carolina through two South Carolina counties has been captured, officials said.
Gage Plourde was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon by S.C. Department of Natural Resources wildlife agents and Chester County deputies, said Grant Suskin, spokesman for the Chester County Sheriff’s Office. SCDNR officers found Plourde walking along U.S. 21 near the southeastern Chester County town of Great Falls, Suskin said.
Plourde, 26, of Ridgeway, Va., had been sought by Chester County deputies and other South Carolina police since Monday, officials said.
Plourde is believed to be the driver of a stolen Ford Crown Victoria that was pursued Monday by police in both states, according to Suskin and Trent Faris of the York County Sheriff’s Office.
The vehicle was pursued Monday afternoon around 3 p.m. by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department helicopter, CMPD said. CMPD officers were alerted by a device that reads license plates that a stolen vehicle was near North Tryon Street and University City Boulevard, CMPD said. The pursuit in North Carolina was on Interstate 485 and Interstate 77, according to WBTV, The Herald’s news partner.
SC chase reaches 115 MPH, officials say
York County deputies in patrol cars chased the vehicle down I-77 and on U.S. 21 before it went into Chester County, Faris said.
The chase in Chester County by Chester deputies reached speeds of 115 miles per hour, Suskin said.
Plourde also drove on the wrong side of the road, drove over double yellow lines, and passed a stopped school bus during the pursuit, according to a Chester sheriff incident report.
Plourde and a passenger then ran from the car near the Chester County town of Fort Lawn, officials said.
The passenger, Hope Marie Smith, 30, was caught shortly after the chase Monday as she tried to get a ride on a logging truck after leaving area woods, the incident report stated. Smith remains in the Chester County jail, records show.
Plourde remained uncaught until Wednesday.
Plourde is in the Chester County jail pending service of arrest warrants in the case, officials said.
Charlotte Observer reporter Jonathan Limehouse contributed.
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Driver in high speed police chase in NC and SC caught in Chester County, officials say."
