Multiple charges have been filed against a Selma man who allegedly assaulted a wrecker driver, stole his vehicle only to crash seconds later into a loaded gasoline tanker. It happened around 3:00am Wednesday on US 70 near Ricks Road in Selma.
Police said Timothy Cribb of Raleigh, a driver for A Plus Towing of Wendell, was in the parking lot of the Handee Hugo doing an inspection report on a car he had just repossessed. The suspect, Derik Lee Hall, 37, of the 1300 block of US 70-A, approached the driver outside his wrecker and brandished a knife. During an altercation the tow truck driver was cut in the hand with the knife.
Hall jumped in the cab of the wrecker. As he attempted to flee the parking lot he collided with a semi hauling gasoline and operated by Elvin Chad Tyson, 33, of Selma.
After the crash, Hall fled on foot from the wreck and jumped into a Ford Explorer parked nearby. As he was speeding away from the scene he was pulled over by a Selma police officer who happened upon the crash.
Police said Hall was combative and refused to submit to a breathalyzer test. Officers obtain a search warrant again Hall to obtain a blood sample.
He was charged with habitual impaired driving, hit and run, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, larceny of a motor vehicle, injury to property and communicating threats. Hall was placed in the Johnston County Jail under a $100,000 bond.
Numerous emergency personnel responded to the scene due to the crash involving a fuel tanker.
Damage to the wrecker was placed at $9,000. Damage to the gasoline tanker was estimated at $1,000. And damage to the repossessed car attached to the wrecker was placed at $1,800. A fuel pump in the convenience store parking lot sustained $500 in damage as a result of the crash.
