NC man ran across I-85 after a 100-mph chase with deputies. He made it alive, sheriff said
A North Carolina fugitive survived a sprint across Interstate 85 north of Charlotte after he wrecked his car along the side of the highway during a wrong-way, 100-mph chase with deputies, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Little did the man know, other law enforcement officers waited on the other side of the highway in case he made it.
The 40-year-old felon, Nathaniel Alexander Neri, was promptly arrested.
Neri was a fugitive since 2020 on a federal probation warrant, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.
Deputies spotted him leaving a home in the county Thursday, but he sped away when they tried to stop him, sheriff’s officials said.
Neri wrecked while driving south in the northbound lanes, according to the sheriff’s office.
Investigators said they found Ecstasy and other drugs in the car and a semi-automatic pistol near the crash scene.
A search of the home found a 7.62 “assault-style” rifle with a high capacity magazine, two 9mm semi-automatic pistols and a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, along with two semi-automatic pistols that were reported stolen, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies also found various drugs in the home.
Neri was jailed Thursday on charges related to the chase. On Friday, investigators charged him with drug and firearms offenses. He was in the Rowan County jail Saturday on a $2 million bail, jail records showed.