Long Arm Of Law Catches Driver Months After High Speed Chase

JOHNSTON COUNTY – A driver wanted following a high speed chase in December was recently taken into custody.

On December 16, 2024 around 10:06pm, a Johnston County deputy sheriff was on routine patrol on US 301 in Benson when he spotted a suspicious pickup parked behind Eastern Carolina Medical Center.

The deputy asked Benson Police to check in with him while conducting a check on the vehicle and the driver, the lone occupant.

The truck had a fictitious license plate and the driver gave the deputy a fake name. Officers noticed an odor of marijuana coming from the truck.

The driver was asked to step out of the truck, but instead the yet to be identified man placed the vehicle in gear and sped away.

Lawmen pursued the truck through Benson, then onto Interstate 95 northbound. The pursuit reached speeds of 90 miles per hour.

A state trooper was able to deploy stop sticks on I-95 near the 87 mile marker (Keen Road) in Four Oaks, but the driver avoided them.

Another spike strip was placed across the interstate near Exit 90 (US 701) and successfully deflated a tire on the pickup.

The chase continued to Exit 95 in Smithfield, where the driver drove off the northbound ramp onto US 70 East and down an embankment near a local hotel. He jumped and ran from the truck, fleeing into the woods near a construction site.

K-9 teams from the Smithfield Police Department and Johnston County Sheriff’s Office searched for at least an hour, between I-95 and the Johnston County Board of Education building, before calling off the search.

The driver could not be found, however, a handgun and cellphone were located inside the abandoned truck.

On March 26, 2025, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office arrested the alleged driver on outstanding warrants stemming from the chase.

Stephen Blake Allen, age 39, of Ransdell Road, Raleigh was charged with felony fleeing to elude arrest, possession of a firearm by a felon, identity theft, reckless driving, speeding, and fictitious/altered tag.

Allen was also served with several failure to appear warrants including possession of a stolen motor vehicle, identity theft, breaking and entering, possession of stolen property, misdemeanor larceny, and carrying a concealed weapon.

The Dodge Dakota pickup involved in the December pursuit was seized.