There's A Bear In The Air 176

Last night as Buddy and I were about to get off I85 in Duncan/Spartanburg SC to get fuel, we saw a helicopter with a search light overhead, and every cop within 20 miles was surrounding a building at our exit. In fact, they had the exit closed off, and we had to flip around at the next exit. As we were passing where we should'ave gotten off, I saw one of the cops holding his shotgun at waist level.

Nobody knew what was happening, but a driver told me the cops had come onto the TA's premises looking for somebody.

This morning I called the Duncan Police Dep't to find out what happened. The girl told me to go to www.goupstate.com, and I should be able to find the article there. She was right. According to the article:

Multiple law enforcement agencies scoured wooded areas near the intersection of I-85 and Highway 290 late Tuesday night looking for a man accused of shooting at authorities after a traffic stop.

Master Deputy Tony Ivey, public information officer for the Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, said that officers established a perimeter near Cryovac Inc. at 1502 E. Main St. in Duncan and were using a helicopter and K-9 teams in their search for a black male wearing blue jeans and a dark tank top. Ivey said no one was hit by the shots.

Ivey said officers were conducting a traffic stop as part of the third Operation Rolling Thunder, a multi-jurisdiction patrol of I-85 and I-26 in Spartanburg County this week, near mile marker 63 of I-85 North.

Ivey said the driver jumped from the vehicle and ran, and the officer conducting the stop reported shots had been fired as the suspect ran into a wooded area.

Authorities blocked off the area around Cryovac for the search

And from one of the comments on the story:

Remember Paul Harvey who used to end with "and now you know the rest of the story"? Well, I guess I will fill in the rest of the story the newspaper failed to mention.

The suspect was driving an orange Dodge Charger type vehicle. It was shown on 2 local TV stations. He shot at a Florence County deputy who had him pulled over on the north bound Hwy 290 ramp. It started around 7.30-8.00pm. At 12.48am an officer spotted him around the Jack in the box on Hwy 290. Suspect ran behind a semi truck while crossing 290. They started running him again but could not get helicopters up in the air for the second chase. The dogs lost him.

Law enforcement preformed perfectly. Especially since there were over 10 different agencies involved. It was humorous to watch some young guy driving a Duncan car who had just shown up start barking orders at people standing around while the real professionals were working.