120 mph-chase led police to shootout site months before ambush killed four officers

Months before a man wanted by multiple police agencies shot and killed four officers outside an east Charlotte home, city police visited the same address looking for a driver involved in a dangerous, high-speed chase.

That driver turned out to be Terry Clark Hughes Jr., police eventually determined. Hughes was killed on April 29 after ambushing officers attempting to serve a warrant for his arrest at 5525 Galway Drive, police say.

At around 3:30 p.m. Jan. 6 — a Saturday — Hughes led a Lincoln County Sheriff’s deputy on a chase that reached 120 mph, drove into oncoming traffic and through a red light, according to a sheriff’s incident report.

“The suspect vehicle went head on with a Silver Ram truck causing it to leave the roadway,” Deputy D. Diberardino wrote in the report. The deputy was called off the pursuit when speeds again hit 100 mph as the chase neared Huntersville, the report said.

But the SUV’s registration pointed police to the site of the police ambush. The vehicle was registered to a woman who lived there, the report notes.

During the lengthy April 29 shootout, that womancalled 911 to alert police that she and a teenager were inside the home, according to police radio traffic.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police has previously said that a warrant for eluding stemmed from this chase and led a U.S. Marshals task force to arrest Hughes on Galway Drive, where court documents indicated he also lived.

A Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office incident report on the chase provides more details into what happened in January.

A ‘reckless’ high-speed chase

The high-speed chase started west of Lake Norman on N.C. 16 Business Highway, a two- sometimes three-lane rural road, lined with patches of forests and small shopping centers.

The incident reports says it unfolded like this:

The deputy first noticed a charcoal gray Dodge Journey SUV as it backed into a gas station parking spot, the report states. The driver entered the store, hopped back into the car and drove about a half-mile to a Baptist church, where a white GMC truck pulled up next to him.

He then drove another half-mile to a second gas station, gassing up at pump No. 7.

The driver, Diberardino wrote, was a “middle aged black male wearing a black jacket and black beanie.”

When the driver left the station and failed to use a turning signal, Diberardino flipped on his lights.

The driver pulled over. But as the deputy got out of his patrol car, the driver yelled, “Why are you harassing me,” according to the incident report.

Then he sped away, nearly colliding with a vehicle and turning back onto N.C. 16 Highway.

For a while, the Dodge Journey sped along at 55 mph — 20 more than the posted limit. Then it accelerated. It reached 120 mph, nearly rammed a vehicle making a u-turn and swerved from one lane to another, the report states.

South, on N.C. 73 Highway, Diberardino used his patrol car’s PA system. The driver looked back through his driver-side mirror, the deputy noted.

But he never let up, swerving again and cutting off more drivers. And when traffic got heavy, the diver switched lanes, driving directly into oncoming cars.

“The vehicle continued to drive recklessly as it passed several vehicles from the oncoming lane nearly causing several collisions,” Diberardino wrote.

That’s when the deputy writes he was told to stop the chase.

Tracking who owned the SUV

After the sheriff’s office ran the Journey’s plates, it learned that the vehicle was registered to a woman who lived at the home on Galway Drive, the incident report states.

Following the pursuit, a CMPD officer stopped by the Galway Drive house, according to the report. The officer reached the woman by phone. She told the officer that she had her car all day and no one had used it.

She “became uncooperative and did not give any additional information,” the report states.

Months later, a U.S. Marshals task force arrived at the same house in east Charlotte, attempting to arrest Hughes.

Police say Hughes opened fire from a second-floor window, killing four law enforcement officers — Deputy U.S. Marshal Thomas Weeks, Jr., Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Officer Joshua Eyer and Adult Correction Officers Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott.

Hughes was shot and killed too.

During the shootout, Charlotte police radio traffic mentions the woman who told dispatchers that she and a teenager were in the house. The teen was hiding in a second-floor closet, the caller said.

The Charlotte Observer called the woman earlier this month but she declined an interview request.

CMPD said Hughes was wanted for possession of a firearm by a felon and two counts of felony fleeing to elude Lincoln County deputies.

Hughes also had a warrant for his arrest from charges in Person County, near the Virginia border. According to Person County court records, Hughes pleaded guilty to felony breaking and entering in 2010 and served about five months in prison.

In 2021, he was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of marijuana between a half ounce and 1.5 ounces, Person County records show.

He never showed up to court during his scheduled hearing last year, triggering the warrant. Hughes also had two orders for his arrest for missed court appearances in Mecklenburg County.

Those orders stemmed from 2021 charges of fleeing to elude arrest and possession of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver, court records show.



Editor’s note: This story was revised to omit the name of the woman who police say lived at 5525 Galway Drive.

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