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Suspect flees from law enforcement officers
By Lynn Hotaling
A suspect remained at large Tuesday (March 22) after fleeing law enforcement officers near Dillsboro.
Officers with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and Sylva Police Department investigated suspicious persons reported near the Holiday Inn Express in Dillsboro about 7:45 a.m. Tuesday, said Sheriff Jimmy Ashe.
One was wearing what appeared to be “inmate clothing,” Ashe said, in that it was orange. Law enforcement personnel investigated, thinking the suspects might be some of the six inmates who overpowered a guard and escaped from the Haywood County Jail Monday night, Ashe said.
Officers observed an early 1980s model Ford Explorer with two males who resembled the description of two of the escapees, Ashe said.
An officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but the Explorer swerved and tried to hit the officer, Ashe said.
The Explorer then fled west on U.S. 74 but wrecked after traveling only about an eighth of a mile, Ashe said. The driver ran into the woods, and the passenger was taken to the Sheriff’s Office for questioning, where it was determined that neither was a Haywood County escapee, Ashe said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, officers were attempting to locate the driver, Jeremiah James Moore, 20, of Sylva, who has outstanding misdemeanor and felony warrants from Macon County, Ashe said.
It had not been determined Tuesday whether Moore and his passenger were the suspicious persons initially reported at the Holiday Inn Express, Ashe said.
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