A state trooper was forced to resign after a video surfaced, showing him speeding down Highway 321 in Catawba County, NC, while going the wrong way towards oncoming traffic.
According to WSOCTV, the person who shot the video, Carisa Lynn, told reporters that the trooper was on his way to a street racing bust. Apparently, the police had received multiple calls about street racers endangering other drivers along this four-lane highway.
“Street racing isn’t what you should be doing but it was more reckless, in my opinion, of the police officer to be driving the way he was driving, in general, to pull over some people racing,” said Lynn.
As for the street racers, it seems that there may have been as many as 10 BMWs involved, five of which were seized, while their drivers are facing charges of pre-arranged speed racing, careless and reckless driving and impeding traffic.
So then was the trooper right to take off the way he did towards oncoming traffic? According to the North Carolina Highway Patrol, there is a policy which states that extraordinary measures can be taken “if the need for the response outweighs the danger created and that the emergency response can be accomplished with due regard for the safety of others.”
“I’d rather him come the wrong way and stopping these guys than 14,15,16 vehicles going over 100 miles per hour causing an accident,” added Sgt. Kelly Stewart.