By WITN Web Team | February 2, 2021 at 11:53 AM EST – Updated February 2 at 12:41 PM
KENANSVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – The Highway Patrol has provided preliminary investigation details into a chase that turned fatal for four people overnight in Duplin County.
First Sergeant Christopher Knox says that a trooper tried to stop a Ford passenger vehicle for speeding on Highway 24 in Duplin County around 10:13 p.m. on Monday.
Knox says the chase went through Kenansville on Highway 24 and eventually turned onto Highway 11 North.
The trooper chased the vehicle to the intersection of Highway 11 and 903 and say the car drove through a stop sign.
Officials say it ran off the roadway, hit a fence, then traveled into a pond where it quickly submerged in around 15 feet of water.
Knox says the trooper threw a rescue rope into the water which was able to help save one person who was able to get out before the car submerged.
That person was taken to Vidant Duplin with minor injuries and has been released.
Officials say after a lengthy recovery mission by Duplin County Search & Rescue and a local tow company, the car was pulled from the pond where four bodies were discovered inside.
The Highway Patrol’s Collision Reconstruction Unit is handling the ongoing investigation.
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