Odd traffic stop ends with man in handcuffs stealing cop’s vehicle, NC police say

A rush hour traffic stop took a strange turn when the suspect drove away in the police officer’s vehicle – “while in handcuffs,” according to investigators in North Carolina.

How the man managed that has not been revealed, but the vehicle’s bumper struck the officer as it sped away, court documents report.

It happened around 5:45 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16, in Bladenboro, as a police officer was arresting the man on outstanding warrants, the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office said in a Feb. 17 news release.

Katrale Sampson, 32, of Pembroke, responded by taking the officer’s $30,000 “unmarked police truck with blue lights and siren,” court documents say.

The departing truck became a “deadly weapon” when the bumper and fender hit the officer “in the leg and side,” an arrest warrant reports. Investigators did not release details of the officer’s condition.

“Bladen County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to be on the lookout as (the) suspect was last seen traveling in the direction of Center Road,” the sheriff’s office said. “Deputies quickly located an unoccupied Bladenboro PD patrol vehicle on Marsh Road near the Robeson County line.”

Sampson was still at large when the sheriff’s office was alerted to the theft of a vehicle Hester Mill Road at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17.

A witness followed the stolen vehicle to a gas station across from Bladen Community College, then dragged the suspect out of it, the sheriff’s office said.

Sampson fled on foot, but was captured just over an hour later in the Dublin area, officials said. Court documents don’t say if he was still wearing handcuffs.

He is being held without bond on charges that include:

• Larceny of a motor vehicle
• Larceny by employee
• Resisting a public officer
• Assault with a deadly weapon on a government official
• Larceny of motor vehicle
• Possession of heroin
• Felony larceny
• Resisting a public officer
• Misdemeanor larceny
• Possession drug paraphernalia

Bladenboro is about a 100-mile drive south from downtown Raleigh.

This story was originally published February 18, 2026 at 6:24 AM with the headline "Odd traffic stop ends with man in handcuffs stealing cop’s vehicle, NC police say."