The driver who stole four vehicles Wednesday and stirred panic with erratic driving while trying to evade authorities as police and television station helicopters followed him has been identified as 26-year-old Tyler Christopher Harding.
Harding has been charged with four counts of vehicle theft, two counts of felony hit and run, possession of stolen vehicle, felony flee to elude, burglary and numerous traffic citations.
According to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, Harding has a felony arrest history from Texas and was new to the Charlotte area. The second suspect and passenger identified in Wednesday's incident is 28-year-old Christa Brooke Harding. She is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle.
The incident started with a burglary call involving a stolen vehicle.
For much of the hours-long ordeal, officers did not closely pursue him in their cruisers. CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings says that’s because its policy is not to pursue vehicles unless there’s a danger to life.
"It is unusual for someone that when we back off and we are no longer right directly behind this individual, to continue driving in that fashion just showed his disregard for the safety of our public," Jennings told reporters.
WSOC-TV captured the driver jumping out of a truck that appeared to have blown a tire and stealing a woman’s vehicle in a Walmart parking lot, leaving behind a passenger in the truck.
#BREAKINGChopper 9 caught the moment a suspect in a police chase got in another car at a Walmart parking lot in south Charlotte. WATCH: https://t.co/bNJQgYp3DF pic.twitter.com/9Ep4fz45wY
— WSOCTV (@wsoctv) July 6, 2022
No one died or was seriously hurt. Jennings said the situation could have been worse had the police reacted differently.
"There is no way to say that a pursuit would have stopped this type of driving. So it possibly could have been worse. We also knew we had the overhead sight with the helicopter," Jennings said.
