N.C. State Highway Patrol was conducting a license check on Stokes Ferry Road Sunday afternoon, May 25, when a tractor-trailer with an excavator on the flatbed rolled slowly toward troopers.

Master Trooper Whit Efird said troopers waved the man forward and the driver inched his way slowly forward. Finally, when he reached the troopers, he opened his door and said he didn’t have a license.

“Well, that happens all the time,” said Efird. “They said it was OK, and asked him to pull the truck off to the side.” The driver continued rolling forward very slowly, and at first, troopers thought he was looking for an open space to pull off.

But he continued to roll, passing several open spaces, and it became clear “this was a chase, though a slow one,” said Efird.

The driver engaged troopers in a pursuit from Stokes Ferry Road to Trexler Road, Trexler Road to Barger Road, Barger Road back to Stokes Ferry Road, Stokes Ferry Road to Dunns Mountain Road, Dunns Mountain Road to Bringle Ferry Road, and finally, at Bringle Ferry Road and McCanless Road, the truck went off the road into a field.

And then the driver and his dog jumped and ran.

But by then troopers had identified him, and according to Efird, the man, Jeb Lee Hampton, 27, of Cleveland, had committed nearly the exact same crime two days before and been given a $700,000 bond. Though he was not sure of the amount, Efird said the bond had been reduced and Hampton was out on bond when he allegedly stole the truck he was driving Sunday, then used that truck to steal the excavator from a bridge project in Tuckertown between Davidson and Rowan counties.

Hampton is now wanted by state troopers and Efird says if anyone has information they can call *HP on any cell phone and it goes to highway patrol, or the office at 704-855-1047, or they can call 911.