Trooper injured in altercation during traffic stop

A man grabbed a trooper's stun gun and used it on him before assaulting him and fleeing, authorities said.

Posted 10:02 p.m. May 17, 2010 — Updated 10:02 p.m. May 17, 2010

WALSTONBURG, N.C. — A state Highway Patrol trooper was injured Monday in an altercation that followed a traffic stop in Greene County, authorities said.

Trooper B.R. Beamon stopped a vehicle on southbound N.C. Highway 91 to cite the driver for a child seat violation, and a passenger got out of the vehicle and began fighting with Beamon, authorities said. During the altercation, the man grabbed the trooper's stun gun and used it on him.

When Beamon fell to the ground after being stunned, the man assaulted him before fleeing into some nearby woods, authorities said.

The Highway Patrol and the Greene County Sheriff's Office searched the woods on the ground and from the air but hadn't located the man as of Monday evening.

The man was identified as 22-year-old Nathaniel Eugene Hope. He was last seen with braided corn rows and wearing a white T-shirt and baggy blue jeans, authorities said.

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