A man crossed state lines in a stolen tractor trailer and ended up colliding with multiple vehicles before being arrested in South Carolina, earlier this week.
According to the Gaston Gazette, 50-year-old Terry Windell Keesley got into an altercation with a gas station clerk in Lowell, North Carolina, on Tuesday, after trying to buy alcohol at 4 a.m., past the state’s legal alcohol sales hours. He reportedly returned to the gas station around 7:30 a.m., where he noticed an unattended big rig was left running and jumped inside.
Keesley then drove the semi truck for miles before colliding with two cars on a ramp of I-485 in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Robert Stowe, a driver of one of the damaged cars, caught some of the incident on tape.
“This was an ordeal. This was not just a fender bender. Literally, at the time I thought I was going to be pulled under the 18-wheeler,” said Stowe.
Stowe says he tried to pull off the road to avoid the tractor trailer, but it crashed into his car anyway.
“He slammed into me,” Stowe continued. “It’s pulling the car forward and I’m just hearing the glass and everything starts popping, so I just reached across the seat and dove out on the opposite side.”
Keesley then fled the scene, tailed by a witness to the crash.
Police eventually caught up to Keesley in Tega Cay, South Carolina, where he was detained by local police, but snuck off when released to go to the bathroom said Lowell Police Chief Scott Bates.
“They detained him until they could figure out what’s going on and he tells them he wants to go to the bathroom,” said Bates. “They let him go to the bathroom… and he disappears. At some point, I don’t know how, but he ended up back up with them in custody,” he added.
Keesley now faces felony charges of stolen motor vehicle, possession of stolen goods, and possible hit and run.
According to police, Keesley had once driven tractor trailers professionally.
