Burlington’s police department is crediting its Flock cameras with helping to apprehend an impaired driver who temporarily eluded police officers as he engaged in some ground-level barnstorming last week.
According to the police department, officers initially spotted Craig Devan Shoffner along North Church Street after several motorists called to report his erratic road-handling last Tuesday morning. Rather than heed the signal to pull over, the 36-year-old black male, who hails from 1345 Kilby Street in Burlington, allegedly gunned the accelerator and was last seen driving the wrong way along Church Street.
It was at this juncture that the department reportedly turned to the automated license plate readers (ALPR) which it has installed under an agreement with Flock Safety.
“As a result of the ALPR notification, officers located [Shoffner’s vehicle],” the agency recalled in a news release Friday, “and again [they] observed the driver making several extremely dangerous maneuvers, including coming within inches of crashing into other cars and speeding over medians.”
In the midst of these hijinks, Shoffner apparently wound up with a flat tire and made a pit stop at a gas station near the intersection of South Mebane Street and Chapel Hill Road. It was there that the officers finally caught up with their quarry and arrested him for the felony-level crime of fleeing to elude arrest.
Court records indicate that Shoffner has also been charged with the misdemeanor offenses of driving while impaired, driving with a revoked license, and reckless driving with wanton disregard, along with traffic infractions for running a red light and failing to maintain lane controlled. He has been placed under a $3,000 secured bond since his arrest.
