Odd behavior began hours before two-county chase, crash

He was a regular at the Joyner Mini Mart, but owners Alvin and Wanda Joyner did not recognize the man that police had to strap to a stretcher after the 15-mile pursuit that ended with multiple vehicles damaged.

"The one I've seen coming in and out of this store for years, that's not the person they were chasing today," Wanda Joyner said.

Her husband watched the chase from the store only to see the man he knew restrained and taken into custody.

"I was here when he rounded the corner, pulled around, went back down through there with the cops behind him," Alvin Joyner said.

Police said Bunn was taken to WakeMed in Raleigh for a physical and mental exam. When he's released from the hospital, he will face charges of assault with a deadly weapon and felony fleeing and eluding.

Bunn's unusual behavior began Thursday evening, the manager of a Bailey supermarket said. When he caused a disturbance inside the store, and customers felt uneasy.

Hours later, on Friday morning, Zebulon Police Chief Tim Hayworth said officers were called to a McDonald's where an "irate person" was trying to assault people with a club.

There, officers tried to take Bunn into custody, but he jumped in his pickup truck, tried to ram the police car and sped off, starting the chase.

After the chase from Wake County back toward Bailey, Bunn smashed his truck through a barricade at Bailey Elementary School.

"We had to forcibly remove him from the truck," Hayworth said, noting the man fought with police, firefighters and paramedics responding to the situation and even tried to sic a dog on them.

Heather Boswell, another Bunn acquaintance, said she hopes his arrest is the first step to get him help.

"It's very shocking to the community what has happened," she said. "I pray for him and his family. I hope he gets better."