03/27/2024
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By: Erin Smith

Car CrashA crash at the intersection of Broad Street and Poplar Streets in Elizabethtown ended with officers involved in a brief foot chase near the Cape Fear River. According to Lt. Mark McMichael of the Elizabethtown Police Department, officers lost the suspect, 38-year-old John Marshall Rhodes of Myrtle Beach, SC in the woods.

The Elizabethtown Police Department is asking if anyone has seen Rhodes to contact the department at 910-862-3125.

Lt. McMichael said warrants have been issued charging Rhodes with felony hit and run, resisting arrest, reckless driving and violation of the open container law.

Lt. McMichael said that Rhodes was traveling southbound in the vicinity of the Bladen County Courthouse when he struck two vehicles at the intersection of Broad and Poplar Streets.

“He jumped out of the vehicle and took off running and officers chased him,” said Lt. McMichael.

According to Lt. McMichael, officers lost the suspect in the wooded area near the Cape Fear River, but there is no indication that Rhodes actually entered the river. 

Lt. McMichael also said that to his knowledge, Rhodes was not involved in any type of pursuit by law enforcement at the time the crash occurred.

The crash resulted in Theressa Lewis of Elizabethtown being transported to Cape Fear Valley-Bladen County Hospital.

The victims in the second vehicle, Michael Coger of Elizabethtown and his son were not transported to the hospital.

Responding to the accident scene were Bladen County EMS, the Elizabethtown Fire Department, the Elizabethtown Police Department and Bladen County Sheriff’s Office.

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