March 6, 2023 A driver who refused to stop for Forsyth County sheriff’s deputies led them on a chase headed toward Winston-Salem and opened fire on them during the pursuit and after he crashed.
Source News & Record, Greensboro, N.C. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A car chase early this morning involving deputies with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office ended in a crash that closed U.S. 421 northbound for hours, left one man dead and a injured a deputy.
Shortly after 2 a.m., a deputy attempted to stop a gray Toyota Tacoma on Lewisville-Clemmons Road as its driver was pulling onto U.S. 421 southbound toward Winston-Salem, according to a news release issued by the sheriff’s office.
During a short chase, the driver fired at deputies. Officers with the Winston-Salem Police Department and troopers with the N.C. Highway Patrol responded as well.
The chase ended about 2:21 a.m. when the Tacoma crashed near Peace Haven Road.
The sheriff’s office reported that the driver continued to shoot at deputies, who returned fire.
The driver, Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough said, was shot and did not survive. His name has not been released.
A deputy suffered cuts to his face caused by a windshield in a patrol vehicle that was shattered by gunfire. The deputy, who was not named, was treated and released.
The State Bureau of Investigation, per protocol, has been called in to investigate. Three deputies involved have been placed on administrative leave as is the norm any time an officer uses a weapon.
The highway reopened about noon.
About 2 p.m. March 24, 2020, deputies shot Christopher Joel Mock, 45, following a car chase that ended at a convenience store on Lewisville-Clemmons Road. Mock died in the emergency room at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital.
In that case, deputies were attempting to stop a Dodge pickup truck that matched the description of a vehicle officers were searching in a missing persons case.
Winston-Salem police officers later discovered the body of Toni Renee Handy, who had been reported missing, inside her home on Kimball Lane.