Arrest made a week after NC man eludes capture in stolen golf cart

The man accused of repeatedly slugging a Rowan County sheriff’s deputy then making his escape on a stolen golf cart is now behind bars.

Christopher Lee Erwin, 32, was booked into the county jail early Thursday, records show.

He was arrested without incident Wednesday night at the Super 8 motel on Bendix Drive in Salisbury, the sheriff’s office said. Information from the public led to his capture.

The bizarre incident happened Dec. 13.

A deputy tried to pull over a car that had made a quick turn maneuver in Salisbury, but the driver ignored the deputy’s lights and sped off before wrecking his car in the woods off Balfour Drive. The car’s owner also had a suspended license.

The driver quickly put his hands in his pockets and the deputy fired a Taser at the man, but it apparently had no effect.

The suspect lunged at the deputy, repeatedly punched him, ran off and stole a golf cart from Rolling Hills Golf Club.

The man drove it down the 13th fairway and toward Mooresville Road while managing to escape from a State Highway Patrol helicopter and officers from several law enforcement departments.

Crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia had been found inside the car and a stolen 9mm handgun was found outside the driver’s door.

Erwin, a Salisbury resident with a tattoo on his left forearm that reads “Playing for keeps,” faces multiple charges.

They include: resisting a public officer, assault on a law enforcement officer inflicting injury, felonious fleeing to avoid arrest, possession of a stolen firearm, common law robbery, felony possession of schedule II controlled substance, possession with intent to manufacture, sell and deliver a schedule II controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 10:02 AM with the headline "Arrest made a week after NC man eludes capture in stolen golf cart."