Raleigh home invasion leads to chase, crash in Durham

DeKenneth Covington, 20, of 311 Glenlee Drive, and Jaylen Mire Steele, 18, of 7 Mirando Place, were charged with two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, first-degree burglary, two counts of second-degree kidnapping and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. Covington also was charged with fleeing to elude arrest and hit-and-run causing property damage, while Steele was charged with resisting arrest.

Raleigh police responded to a home invasion at 105 Farris Court, near New Bern Avenue and Poole Road, around 1:45 a.m. Two women and a man said they were assaulted and forced at gunpoint into a room by two men armed with a shotgun and a machete, and the intruders stole a flat-screen television, cellphones, cash and drove off in a GMC Envoy that belonged to one of the home's occpuants, police said.

Durham police spotted the stolen SUV about an hour later at Lathrop Street and Guthrie Avenue, but the driver refused to stop and led officers on a chase into downtown Durham. The SUV driver lost control of the vehicle and crashed into the brick museum sign at the intersection of West Main and Great Jones streets, police said. Both occupants jumped out and ran but were caught a short distance away.

Covington was treated for minor injuries at Duke University Hospital before he was arrested.

The crash sent bricks and twisted metal flying into the street, and Patrick Mucklow, the museum's executive director, said officials were assessing the damage Monday and trying to determine how to replace it.

"We are saddened by the destruction of our brick wall & sign, but the Museum is just glad that no one appears to have been seriously injured," Mucklow said in an email to WRAL News.

Covington was being held in the Wake County jail under a $1.25 million bond, while Steele was being held under a $1.05 million bond.