Dashcam video shows wild chase on I-40 ending in crash
ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. -- An ABC11 Eyewitness sent in video from his dash mounted camera of an erratic driver on I-40 nearly causing multiple accidents as she swerved through traffic for 25 miles in Durham and Orange counties on Thursday. The eventual chase ended when the driver crashed.
ABC11 spoke Monday to the dash cam driver, who asked to remain anonymous. He said he was in constant contact with authorities as he followed the erratic female driver because he thought someone might get hurt or killed.
"She had several close calls," he recalled. "She pushed several other drivers, not physically but sort of intimidated them, I guess, off the road where they had to jump out of her way."
The exclusive video he sent ABC11 showed the driver of the small sedan passing his car on I-40 just west of the Durham Freeway. When he saw her driving erratically, he pulled up next to her and started blowing his horn.
WATCH: Raw video of erratic driver on I-40 (NOTE: Contains some strong language)
Her passenger window was partially down, so he tried to get her attention to no avail.
"She kind of had the thousand yard stare in front of her. So I'm honking and yelling and saying, 'Hey!" you know, 'What's going on?'" he said. "She never looked over at me or seemed to notice that I was there."
He said at times the driver was going as slow as 55 mph and as fast as 90 mph.
The video shows her car hitting the center wall, continuing, and then hitting a wall again a short time later.
At one point after swerving and dodging cars for miles, she nearly hits a state trooper on the right shoulder. After that, a chase began.
He said the trooper told him he saw the sedan coming towards him in the rear view mirror and was braced in his seat, prepared for the worst.
"I was surprised at how close she came to nailing him," the dashcam driver commented.
About four miles later, the pursuit ends as the car crashes just before the I-40/I-85 merge.
According to the wreck report, the driver, 40-year-old Danielle Evans of Elm City was injured in the crash and taken to Duke Medical Center. Her airbags did inflate, the report says.
The Highway Patrol plans to charge her with driving while impaired, speeding to elude, and reckless driving.
