NEWS

 

Friday night, for the third time in as many months, a police-related incident ended in Davidson. In late January, Iredell County Sheriff deputies chased a suspect, and the individual was finally captured in Davidson.

Then, last weekend, the Town posted this note to their Facebook page:

“COMMUNITY ALERT: There is no threat to the community at this time. Highway Patrol were involved in a vehicle crash after a high-speed chase on I-77 ending in Davidson (off exit 30 near North Harbor) in the early hours of March 17. Town of Davidson Police Department was on scene with Cornelius and Huntersville Police Departments. All three suspects are now in custody. (3/17/24 02:06)”

Although we saw that post, the nature of the incident did not raise further questions. As such, we chose not to pursue it.

This weekend, your News of Davidson editors learned about the latest incident from a post on social media. The author, Alleen Barber, subsequently gave permission to publish her post and attribute it to her.

This is her post, in full:

“Yesterday (Friday) at around 8:50 p.m. Dean and I nearly drove into a guns-drawn police situation on Main Street, at the corner of Griffith St. One fire truck and three police cars with blue lights flashing, officers standing in the streets with their weapons pointed, yelling ‘OUT OF THE VEHICLE! PUT YOUR HANDS UP!!!’ We were on Griffith about to turn smack into the middle of it on Main, in a panic trying to figure out what to do.

Turns out, the officers were yelling at the guy in the fire truck. He had stolen it, apparently. He put both his hands out the window as we u-turned back down Griffith, turned right on Jackson, and got home through campus. Wild.

I can’t find anything reported about this, beyond a NextDoor post about a stolen fire truck in Huntersville. Has anyone seen anything?”

We had not seen anything, and definitely thought that the information warranted more details. As our motto states, we always strive to be “Your Source for Community News and Information.”

Davidson’s Director of Communications, Jessica Eggimann Johnson, directed us to the Concord Police Department. We reached out to them, and the city’s public information officer got back to us with the information that was publicly releasable.

It turns out the suspect stole a fire truck from the Odell Volunteer Fire Department (9051 Davidson Highway, Concord) and tried to make his getaway through Davidson. Specifically, he stole a red 2008 Pierce fire truck with NC plates. The truck’s value is listed as $500,000.

The narrative of the Arrest Report reads as follows:

“On 03/22/2024, officers received a BOLO (be on the lookout) for a stolen fire truck from Odell Fire Station. Officers of Davidson PD located the stolen firetruck in Davidson, NC and asked Concord officers to serve the warrant. Officer S. Whitley arrested the driver, Felix Amaya Valles for felony breaking and entering motor vehicle, larceny of a motor vehicle, operating commercial vehicle NOL, and no operator license.”

According to the form, the charges of breaking and entering of a motor vehicle and larceny of a motor vehicle are felonies. The charges of not having an operator’s license and operating a commercial vehicle without a commercial driver’s license (cdl) are misdemeanors.

An addition narrative provided the following details:

“Officer S. Whitley transported Mr. Valles to Concord Police Department to photograph and take fingerprints. Officer Wall interviewed Mr. Valles. Officer S. Whitley transported Mr. Valles to Cabarrus County Jail. Mr. Valles was released into the custody of Cabarrus County Jail on a $25,000 secured bond ordered by Magistrate McClelland.”

Mr. Valles is a 43-year-old white male with an address in Granite Quarry, NC. There is no reason or motive listed for the theft. The document also notes that he was unarmed at the time of his arrest.

A recent comment on social media summed up our thoughts, criminals need to stop coming to Davidson. These three incidents have one thing in common, the suspects were all arrested in Davidson.