Clayton police search for larceny, hit-and-run suspect

Clayton, N.C. — Clayton police are searching for a man after they say he stole a television from the Walmart on Highway 70 Thursday evening, fled in a stolen car and injured a woman in a hit-and-run crash nearby.

The man was speeding away from the Walmart when he hit a woman's car, jumped out of the truck and ran into some nearby woods, police said.

The woman was taken to a local hospital, but her condition was not immediately available. Police said her injuries are not life-threatening.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol helicopter and the Wake County Sheriff's Office K-9 team are assisting in the search, which is centered around a wooded area near the Walmart.

Debra Bryfogle was at the Walmart when the man sped away.

"I was scared. This is a Walmart that I go to a lot, and it's scary that I can't go to Walmart after school with my kids," she said. "In the middle of the afternoon, that somebody would do that just for a TV and put everybody in danger."

She added that the woman who was hit was "just an innocent bystander."

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Latest Comments

"At 10PM, must have need fuel or been shift change, cause all of a sudden, it got quiet. WRAL at 10 on 50 said they had called the search off!

Get him-he cannot have gone far."---baldchip

They finally realized the perp never ran into the woods, and they never caught him.

Damien Thorne
February 1, 2013 3:29 p.m.

It was busy in our neighborhood-noisy too. Although we live in the county, Clayton PD officers were cruzing regularly thru the neighborhood. Helicopter got noisy after a while.

At 10PM, must have need fuel or been shift change, cause all of a sudden, it got quiet. WRAL at 10 on 50 said they had called the search off!

Get him-he cannot have gone far.

baldchip
February 1, 2013 2:38 p.m.

25 trigger happy police

Really? Were any shots fired? How did you know they were "trigger happy"? Your insight into the difference between what you saw and what you think you know is underwhemling.

Relic
February 1, 2013 1:03 p.m.

Bold attempt by the suspect, for a TV!! Probably has a long RAP sheet. He will have plenty of TV time when he is brought to justice and locked up!!! Some people just don't understand that ya need to work and save your pennies when you want to obtain a material item like a stupid TV...... Maybe he should have stolen some books instead. Reading is much healthier brain exercise. Too much TV and video places the human brain into a state of suspended animation, numbs the senses and decreases social interaction, all of which results in total ignorance!! No super bowl, chips and brewsky for this creep!!!!

jaydosse
February 1, 2013 11:02 a.m.

"If the suspect was in the woods, and the officers were "looking in the woods", what is it you would have preferred them be doing? What did you do to help? I can't believe the police respond to a thief with no regards for citizens on the highway and this is turning into a "what the police did wrong" forum. I guess I need to find a "what the criminal did wrong forum."----subanitov

The poster is making two points here. One is the fact that all those strobes going off were blinding. How do you look for someone when you can only face away from those lights not to be blinded by them?

Perhaps instead of preaching about things you do not know you should have witnessed the situation as some of us did. A bunch of people running all round with no direction. They were not even sure they ran into the woods. Meanwhile 25 trigger happy police are running around high on adrenaline with no description of a suspect, only looking for anyone not in a car.

And you want someone to get out of theirs?

Damien Thorne
February 1, 2013 10:45 a.m.