High-speed chases are on the rise, and they are becoming more deadly

A high-speed chase ended in a crash Tuesday in Knightdale, causing a power outage for hundreds of customers. It was at least the fifth chase so far in the month of June and the second day in a row where law enforcement said someone trying to get away hit triple-digit speeds.

WRAL News has covered more than 40 chases so far in 2024, and five chases in the first few days of June.

The week started with a chase that ended in a driver's death Sunday night in Wake County. That 18-year-old driver, running at speeds of up to 115 mph, hit and injured another driver near Rolesville.

On Monday, two people were taken into custody after leading state troopers on a chase through Johnston County. According to Highway Patrol, the chase started in Wilson Mills off of U.S. 70 and reached speeds of 145 mph.

Also on Monday, in Person County, a chase ended with two cars crashing into one another on U.S. Highway 501. The drivers of both cars were taken to Duke Hospital.

On Tuesday in Knightdale, authorities said the chase reached speeds up to 100 mph in a 55 mph speed zone before the driver crashed into a utility pole. The driver was taken to the hospital and will be charged with driving while impaired.

And a fifth chase was reported in Dunn on Tuesday on North Clifton Avenue.

Data from the State Highway Patrol shows a 130% increase in pursuits from 2019 to 2022 statewide. Troopers were involved in 454 chases in 2019. In 2022, that number ws 1,053. The State Highway Patrol was averaging nearly three chases a day in 2022, a year when 24 people died as a result of these pursuits.

Data from the Wake County Sheriff's Office shows that deputies there were involved in 74 pursuits in 2023. The number will likely be surpassed in 2024, with the sheriff's office hitting 35 chases as of June 2.

Lt. Mike Fleer with the Wake County Sheriff's Office said deputies are calculating the entire time to weigh the risk versus apprehension.

"There's a lot of considerations they take into effect," Fleer said. "The immediate apprehension of the violator compared to the overall risk of the pursuit itself and the safety of the motoring public."

According to Fleer, a chase is a situation that can unfold in split seconds.

"It's constantly running through your head, from the time you flip on the blue lights and try to get a vehicle to stop until the chase is concluded," Fleer said. "You're constantly reevaluating and trying to figure out if you need to go on or stop, and supervisors are doing the exact same thing ... they can be two streets over or at the other end of the county, but they're monitoring the same situation."

Pursuits are becoming an increasingly more dangerous tactic. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pursuit deaths are up 380% in the last 10 years, from five in 2013 to 24 in 2022.

WRAL News reached out to the State Highway Patrol and Durham Police Department to learn about their chase policies, but requests for interviews were denied. WRAL News is awaiting a response from the Fayetteville Police Department and Durham County Sheriff's Office.