CLAYTON – A Johnston County man died in a high speed wreck while fleeing from a state trooper. The single vehicle accident happened near the intersection of Raleigh Road and McLemore Road.
Around 12:15am today (Friday), a trooper was traveling on McLemore Road running radar. The officer clocked an approaching Hyundai passenger car traveling 58 mph in a 45 mph zone.
The trooper made a u-turn to conduct a traffic stop. The operator of the Hyundai accelerated rapidly and passed a car in a no-passing zone.
The trooper radioed in a pursuit as he attempted to catch up to the vehicle. Before the officer could get behind the Hyundai, the suspect failed to negotiate a merge from McLemore Road onto Raleigh Road. The car ran off the roadway into a ditch in the 3800 block of Raleigh Road, striking a driveway culvert, and overturning through a fence into a field.
The driver, Zhyshawn Abernathy, age 24, of Clayton was ejected and died at the scene. A passenger, Chase Groves-Johnson, age 30, of Clayton was also ejected. Another passenger, Amarion Groves-Johnson, age 21, of Clayton was not ejected. No one was wearing seat belts.
Both passengers were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The Highway Patrol estimated Abernathy was traveling at approximately 100 miles per hour when he crashed.
It took less than one minute from the time the trooper clocked the speeding car to the fatal wreck.
The trooper was not involved in the crash. He was still attempting to catch up to Abernathy when the fatal accident occurred.
Darwin…
When the cops turn on their lights you stop. Hopefully his passengers learned that lesson for the future.
Mind your own business. This is someone’s life that is not longer here. Keep it to yourself.
Sorry for the loss but HE is responsible for his own death and the injuries to the other two people.
F Jen it is sad he has died but he is responsible for his own death by running from the cops at a high rate of speed. I feel sorry for his family that now have to mourn his loss from stupidity. I’m thankful he didn’t kill anyone else. I travel that road all the time, it could have been me and my kids he took out (except I am not out that late). Follow the law!
And his wrecklessness could have taken an innocent life. The fact he did this in public makes it our business.
All y’all have some respect we all choose different paths he was my friend and a good person
Jen R you wouldn’t want people shi**ing on your son or daughter after they died in a wreck, so shut your mouth and keep to yourself
I am glad the Trooper was n not injured. As far as the other, well he must have had a death wish to be running from the LAW. When the Law tries to stop you, PULL OVER and STOP! F Jen, if you are unable to understand that then don’t read how other people feel! I don’t care if the person was 17 or 90, you don’t run. Also what was he running for????
“as far as the other” something is seriously wrong with you people have some respect. People understand he made that decision himself and it may have been a bad decision
but that doesn’t mean he deserved what happened to him. And i bet ALLLL you people talking bad on him are christian’s (john 13:34) “I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must love one another.”
When you see lights and siren behind you, STOP! If you feel you have done nothing wrong, explain in court. Odds are, drugs were involved. Just saying, since he had pending felony drug charges against him from previous possession.
are you that sad? that you have to sit here and comment on a joco report of someone YOU DONT EVEN KNOW?? how are you going to sit here and speak on the dead like have some respect. So what he got scared and he had a flight response it was a bad decision. You don’t know anything about him it’s not as simple as “oh he had drugs so he deserved it” like do you know how stupid that sounds.
Maybe I did know him! How about that?
Well if you did that’s just terrible you’d talk on someone you know like that! And if you did know him well enough to really know him you would know what went down that night, do you know the other two passengers they were his best friends, have they told you what happened?? Doesn’t seem to me that you KNOW because you wouldn’t be ASSUMING drugs were involved 🙂
I noticed no one commented on the Harrent county deputy who killed two innocent people when he ran a red light and slammed into their vehicle. He was also chasing a speeder. Was it worth the chase? Probably not to the deceased family members.
So the cops are just supposed to let people do what they want to on the roads without consequences right? Until of course it’s your loved one that’s killed by someone else’s recklessness. This isn’t the wild west and this isn’t liberal New York.
The loved ones of two people were killed by someones reckless driving. The Harnet county deputy has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Ask the deputy if it was worth the chase. There are other ways to catch a speeder than putting lives at risk. I’ve never cared much for the wild west or liberals anywhere.
And the individual the officer was chasing has been arrested and charged with a felony!
We get it wrong…we do have a right to voice our opinion, but we are not judge nor jury. Some people forget we live in the USA, it is not the Law Enforcement Officers duty to judge but to enforce, it is not the District Attorneys job to find a person guilty, it is to present the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to find the person guilty, it is the defense’s job to show reasonable doubt, it is the trial courts judge duty to maintain decorum and to ensure the law is adhered to. It is the Jury’s duty and job to find guilt or innocence. Our society has gotten our judicial system mixed up with I don’t know what, but it is not American nor right. Being a retired LEO, I understand the mistrust, the doubt in some cases, but I don’t understand the rush to judge when we don’t have the right to. Weather it is a citizen or LEO, if there is probable cause to charge..do so and let our system work as our founding fathers intended for it to.
Well put and thank you for your service.
58 in a 45, good job lawman…… I’m sure you are proud
Sorry for the loss of life but the decision he made was his own alone and there are consequences for every decision good or bad.
No need to even comment this like I think people get it you don’t know who he was, all you have to say is “sorry for your loss” you feel good about yourself saying all the extra bs? because i bet his family doesn’t feel good reading something they ALREADY ARE AWARE OF god you people are so inconsiderate I cannot even believe this bs
People have been conditioned that it’s ok to run, because if you’re from a certain group, your community will come out and protest, regardless of how illegal or stupid an action you have performed.
We need to stop prosecuting police that are involved with apprehending criminals, and let them do their jobs. Probably need to significantly increase ‘running’ penalties to the point that what ever else you are going to get tagged for, is better than the alternative ‘running’ punishment.
Agree, glad that the trooper was not injured.
I’m sure we’ll still see some family members or community organizer spin doctor trying to blame the trooper. Maybe even the legislature for making drugs illegal… Yea, lets blame them. Why not blame Trump while we’re at it…
58 in a 45 is hardly a criminal. In fact, every one of you commenting as probably exceeded 13mph on other roadways. So please, stop your holier than thou attitude.
I was an LEO for over 30 years and turning around and engaging in a pursuit to stop someone for exceeding the speed for that small amount is overkill and badgeheavy in that speed zone.
You’re so stupid like trying to use any story to get your point across nobody is blaming the cop for this idiot. Don’t talk on a family that literally just lost their son, brother, cousin like you know them. It was a just a bad decision, stop trying to spin this story to fit your demographic and bring up your political beliefs this is NORTH CAROLINA i promise you people here support the cops.
Very sorry for the families loss and may this be lesson for others to understand that driving on the road is different from video games and most of all the consequences are real. There are others that you are putting in danger when you choose not to drive with respect. God bless you all!
Public news and criminality are our business. Stupid prizes are the reward for playing stupid games.
This is the worst way you could have worded this do you have no respect at all? He was loved and he was an amazing person. It wasn’t some game he made a bad decision and he sadly suffered from it that doesn’t mean you should be so rude. This is someone’s life you are talking about.
People need to stop commenting on this and clowning on the dead, Rest in Peace Zhy
This entire comment section is disgusting and heartless to say the least. Everyone knows it was a stupid choice to make and he endangered others, but y’all are gonna sit here and say you’ve never done something dumb before?? Especially at a young age?? This is a time for grieving, condolences, and sympathy. Not judgment, disrespect, and assumptions. I pray that the family and friends of Zhy find peace during this hard time.