Speeding ATV evades Beaufort County deputies during chase, police say
A speeding, unregistered all-terrain vehicle managed to outmaneuver deputies during a pursuit on St. Helena Island earlier this month, police say. No arrest was made.
A Beaufort County deputy attempted to pull over the ATV after observing the driver revving its engine and speeding away from the Parker’s Kitchen convenience store at 856 Sea Island Parkway the night of May 12, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.
The ATV failed to stop for the deputy’s blue lights as it headed east toward Fripp Island, the report states, and a second police vehicle later joined the pursuit. A deputy noted the driver was allegedly operating the ATV on the wrong side of the highway.
About a half-mile down the road near St. Helena Elementary School, the ATV “jumped the curb” and briefly drove in the grass before hopping back onto Sea Island Parkway, police wrote in the report.
Deputies lost sight of the driver and terminated the chase after the ATV turned onto Reunion Road and again onto Kiwi Lane, the report says. The pursuit lasted about 2.5 miles in total.
Police later returned to the Parker’s Kitchen and got a description of the suspect from a witness, but they noted in the report there was “no person of interest identified.”
The driver of the ATV had not been identified or arrested as of Friday, according to Lt. Daniel Allen, a spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Allen added that deputies did not locate the ATV in the area where the chase ended. Suspects sometimes abandon their vehicles alongside the road after police pursuits, he said.
