News

Driver fleeing deputy flips Buick in village

A Buick Regal sits upside down after it flipped on Greenville Highway in the Village of Flat Rock.

By Bill Moss, Published: April 15, 2019

FLAT ROCK — Occupants of a car that led law officers on a chase emerged uninjured and with their hands aloft after flipping their car in the center of the Village of Flat Rock on Monday afternoon. The two men face multiple charges.

An officer spotted the older model Buick Regal driving erratically and attempted to stop it.

“They saw a deputy behind them, freaked out and took off,” said sheriff’s Cpl. Billy Brittain. The car sped up, crossed a double yellow line and lost control on Greenville Highway at Flat Rock Square in the main retail and dining center of the usually quiet village. The driver and a passenger were able to get out and, facing a deputy with his handgun drawn, raised their hands in the air, a witness told the Hendersonville Lightning.

A deputy handcuffs Austin Jade Clark, 19, who was charged in a warrant from another county with interfering with an electronic monitoring device, a felony.The driver, David Lee Nixon, 25, was charged with fleeing to elude arrest, driving while license revoked, driving while impaired and possession of pot. Austin Jade Clark, 19, was charged in a warrant from another county with interfering with an electronic monitoring device, a felony.

A fire truck from Blue Ridge Fire & Rescue, six sheriff’s vehicles and a Highway Patrol cruiser lined the northbound lanes of the highway while the sedan, with both driver’s side doors open and belongings scattered about, remained upside down on a grassy shoulder between the road and brick sidewalk.

The two occupants remained on the scene, too. They appeared to be unharmed and both had declined medical attention, Brittain said.