Chase ends in Goose Creek with driver, two deputies hurt

GOOSE CREEK — A woman led a parade of Charleston County deputies on a chase Wednesday that ended with her Dodge Charger and two patrol cars wrecked.

The chase started sometime after 6 p.m. on Interstate 526 in North Charleston and ended about 6:30 p.m. on a side street off Redbank Road.

Tewonna Sallie, 28, of Ann Street in Charleston was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and was expected to face charges of failure to stop for blue lights, fourth-offense driving under suspension, and having an expired license tag, said sheriff’s Maj. Jim Brady.

The two deputies were taken to a hospital with minor injuries for observation, Brady said.

At the end of the chase, the front end of one cruiser was smashed up against the driver’s side of the red Charger on Cranford Road. The Highway Patrol was investigating and had not released details of the wrecks.

Dozens of spectators stood outside Hardee’s and KFC across the street, and traffic along Redbank Road slowed to check out all the blue lights flashing.

The chain of events started at 6:12 p.m. when Charleston police asked Charleston County deputies to be on the lookout for a red Charger that had not stopped for city police on Savannah Highway, Brady said.

A short time later a deputy spotted a red Charger on I-526 near Leeds Avenue. The deputy tried to pull the car over near International Boulevard, and the driver kept going, Brady said.

The number of deputies chasing the car continued to increase, said witnesses who counted at least nine and up to more than a dozen following her.

The Charger pulled off I-526 onto U.S. Highway 52, headed onto Red Bank Road and turned onto Cranford Road, where the driver hit the two patrol cars, Brady said.

Don Record was standing in a yard on Cranford when Sallie was taken from her car and put into an ambulance. He praised the deputy for ramming into her before she hurt somebody.