Suspect leads police on chase, abandons children after fleeing on foot
“Here he comes – here he comes. Got him! Whoo!” a cell phone user can be heard saying in a video that captured the incident.
MONT HILL, N.C. (WBTV) - A manhunt is on for a man accused of leading deputies on a chase in a stolen car, then ditching it and leaving his two young children in the backseat along with pounds of drugs.
Union County Sheriff’s Deputies say they tried to pull over 32-year-old Kirby Falkner Tuesday afternoon. That’s when they say he led them on a high-speed pursuit.
“There’s somebody they’re chasing somebody.”
Cell phone video capturing the moment officers throw out stop sticks in front of a speeding car and spring the trap.
“Here he comes – here he comes. Got him! Whoo!” the cell phone user can be heard saying.
Now facing blown tires and few options, the driver made his way onto the interstate, pulled over, and bailed out on foot.
“That vehicle fled the traffic stop at high speeds,” James Maye with the Union County Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies said Falkner was behind the wheel of the stolen car but as he disappeared into the wood line, it wasn’t just the vehicle he left behind.
“The suspect fled into the woods abandoning his one- and 11-year-old children in the backseat of the car,” said Maye.
The children were quickly taken to a safe location. But Falkner’s kids weren’t the only thing he left behind.
“And there was a large quantity of marijuana inside,” said Maye.
Deputies say about two pounds worth were left, which officials say had a street value of about $3,000.
“It’s really shocking, it’s unbelievable.”
Kefle Fessha runs Nature’s Care Dispensary in Mint Hill. What he sells here is very different than what deputies say the suspect was hauling.
“He has THC which is marijuana which is illegal. We do not.”
He just opened last week and was doing updates to his shop as the chase crossed right in front of him.
“For that person to go at that speed at that time, it was shocking,” Fessha said.
But having kids in the car during a chase and abandoning them on the side of the road for Fessha – is hard to stomach.
“I hope he never gets to see them again.”
Copyright 2023 WBTV. All rights reserved.
