Children involved in high

speed chase; Sugar Grove

man arrested
BY MELANIE MARSHALL

A Sugar Grove man was arrested after allegedly leading a Watauga County Sheriff’s Officer on a high-speed, triple-digit chase while two children rode in the suspect’s vehicle.

Police reports state that, on Thursday at 7:07 p.m., an officer noticed a 2000 Chevrolet Blazer traveling at a high rate of speed on the N.C. 105 bypass.

The driver initially stopped the vehicle when the officer turned on the blue lights.

As the officer approached the Blazer, the driver sped away.

The officer pursued the vehicle toward N.C. 105, then through the intersection turning right on N.C. 105 toward Boone.

While on N.C. 105, Capt. Kelly Redmon of WCSO said speeds reached 100 mph.

The driver turned onto Bairds Creek Road, then Laurel Fork Road, slowing down in speed.

The chase came to an end near Cody Lane when the vehicle met oncoming WCSO deputies responding to the incident.

The driver, James Daniel Wallace, 27, of Sugar Grove, was taken into custody without further incident.

Officers also discovered two children in the back seat – ages 4 and 5. The N.C. Department of Social Services was immediately contacted.

Wallace has been charged with felony fleeing to elude arrest, misdemeanor child abuse, a fictitious registration tag, speeding, reckless driving and operating a vehicle without insurance.

He is scheduled to appear in district court on May 15.

Redmon said the motive for fleeing is suspected to be avoidance of a citation for the fictitious tag.