Law Enforcement officials told WRAL a lot goes into operations like that one.
“As officers were about to enter the residence, Mr. Owens shot at the officers. At least one Raleigh police officer returned a fire,” said Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce.
According to Lt. David Bradford with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, officers prepare for the dangers of that exact situation daily, and are equipped with the tools to handle any possible outcome.
“You want to make sure that everything goes correctly so that we don’t get hurt, the suspect doesn’t get hurt, and the public doesn’t get hurt. So there is a lot of planning involved in that,” said Bradford.
According to law enforcement officials the moments leading up to operation like the one on Wood Bend Drive can be nerve-racking. That’s why Bradford said preparation is key.
“Everything that you’ve done. That you’ve trained for is on your mind. You want to just execute the mission perfectly. That’s all it is. Making sure that you don’t fail the mission,” said Bradford.
In a statement to WRAL, the family of Joey Adams said they are extremely grateful to both Raleigh police and Garner police for putting their lives on the line to bring justice to their family.
Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell takes a StarChase Guardian 54 mm GPS round from Council member Mitchell Silver.
Anna Roman
amroman@newsobserver.com
RALEIGH
Some Raleigh city leaders this week questioned nearly $450,000 worth of equipment being donated to the Raleigh Police Department, including GPS darts that officers can fire to track fleeing vehicles instead of chasing them.
The vote Tuesday on whether to accept the donated equipment from the Raleigh Police Department Foundation was scheduled to be a routine one.
It was on the consent agenda, where noncontroversial items are bunched together for one, usually unanimous vote.
But council member Christina Jones asked that the donation be pulled from consent, prompting a presentation from Police Chief Rico Boyce about the 54 mm GPS rounds, made by the Virginia-based company StarChase.
“Think of it as an (Apple) AirTag that law enforcement deploys on a vehicle that is fleeing a lawful traffic stop, or if we have probable cause to believe that a vehicle has committed a crime and the occupants within that [vehicle] need to be taken into custody, ” Boyce told the council.
Subhead
Each of the 20 kits comes with a dual barrel launcher that attaches to the front of a police car, a control panel and remote key fob to trigger the GPS dart, which attaches to a fleeing vehicle with an adhesive. The system uses compressed air to launch the round, and some videos show a green laser that officers can use to help aim it.
StarChase’s website touts an 85% apprehension rate and more than 10,000 “successful tag” deployments.
Safely ending vehicle chases is a priority for the Police Department, Boyce said, since chases can injure officers, suspects and members of the public on the streets and cause property damage. Raleigh previously used Stop Sticks, the metal strips officers can put on the road to deflate tires, in vehicle chases.
“For many years, what we saw was that officers were getting killed throughout the country by deploying these Stop Sticks, as well as vehicles would continue to move forward and cause additional damage after the tires (were deflated) by the Stop Sticks. So it wasn’t a very useful tool.”
When he became chief, Boyce said he asked his senior team to bring a list of equipment that could help safely stop car chases and the GPS rounds were brought up.
In addition to kits being donated, there should be long-term savings compared to “crash-related claims” against the city in which someone is injured or killed, he said.
Sharing the data
Boyce’s presentation wouldn’t have happened without the item being pulled from the consent agenda, Jones said, and residents may ask “why is an outside foundation purchasing equipment that the Police Department is using.”
The nonprofit Raleigh Police Department Foundation provides “essential funding for new equipment and technology” to improve public safety. It has previously donated electric motorcycles, bicycles, night-vision goggles, ballistic helmets and horses for the department’s mounted patrol.
Jones also asked if the City Attorney’s Office had vetted the GPS rounds. City Attorney Karen McDonald said her office shares the chief’s assessment.
Mayor Pro Tem Jane Harrison said people have asked her if federal agents would have access to RPD’s technology.
“This is RPD information,” Boyce said. “We do not share data with federal law enforcement agencies. …. Legally, we are bound by [the Criminal Justice Information System]. We must adhere to those requirements about data security and not sharing that data with anyone subject to a court order.”
Council member Megan Patton also said she was “in line” with reducing risk to officers and the public but had “similar concerns around data, privacy and security.”
Along with the GPS darts, the donation included two mobile surveillance trailers and gym equipment for two district fitness rooms for a total value of $441,776.
Jones asked that the item be held two weeks until the next council meeting.
“Over the last three years in our budgeting process, I haven’t seen a report from police,” Jones said. “We don’t normally do budget work sessions with police. So I don’t always understand the needs of the department. So these conversations are really helpful. It’s helpful to me. It’s helpful to your goal of making it transparent to the community.”
But other s, like council member Stormie Forte, said they were ready to vote . She asked Boyce how long he’d been a police officer in the Raleigh Police Department.
He responded 26 years, going on to say as chief he has personally tested and vetted this equipment .
“We just saw firsthand five vehicle chases last week,” he said. “I don’t want to be in a situation where I have no resources., [where] my officers have no resources. This gives us a resource to put in our inventory.”
Forte said she appreciated the foundation and said the city should accept the donation since it’s coming from private individuals and not taxpayers.
“I know we talk a lot about our commitment to public safety,” Forte told the chief “The city is growing. We have a lot of folks who live here, they are residents, but also folks who come into the city to visit. I appreciate the work that you and your staff do.”
Mayor Janet Cowell agreed.
“The fact that we had five car chases last week [shows] there is some sense of urgency that this could improve public safety immediately,” she said.
Before the vote, Jones clarified that her request for a delay “has nothing to do with my respect or trust” in Boyce’s judgment.
“It has to do more with the process of understanding and making it more transparent for the community,” she said. “So when I’m seeing a consent item that I don’t have the background information, I don’t have reports that we do on a regular basis, I don’t have backup on this. In this moment, it’s not that I want to deny your request. It’s that I’m asking for two weeks to say, ‘Hey, can I have some time to just read it.’ So that I can help and amplify the work that you’re doing.”
The donation was accepted in a 6-2 vote, with Jones and Patton voting against it.
Anna Roman covers Raleigh and Wake County for the News & Observer. She has previously covered city government, crime and business for newspapers across North Carolina and received many North Carolina Press Association awards, including first place for investigative reporting.
Nearly 400 people were without power early Sunday morning after a car crashed into a utility pole in Raleigh.
Around 2:45 a.m., a car struck a utility pole attached to a transformer on the 1400 block of Capital Boulevard near the Wade Avenue interchange.
Raleigh police said the driver fled the scene in another car after crashing.
Duke Energy crews were on the scene fixing the pole. As of 6:15 a.m., at least 395 customers were without power. The outage map estimated that power should be fully restored by 2 p.m.
Virginia Bridges covers what is and isn’t working in North Carolina’s criminal justice system for The News & Observer’s and The Charlotte Observer’s investigation team. She has worked for newspapers for more than 20 years. The N.C. State Bar Association awarded her the Media & Law Award for Best Series in 2018, 2020 and 2025.
An NC State professor has died from her injuries after being hit by a car Tuesday
evening.
Raleigh police were called just after 6:10 p.m. to Clark Avenue
between Chamberlain and Gardner streets. When they arrived, they found 41-year-old Natalia Duque-Wilckens in the road with serious injuries. She was taken to the hospital where she later died.
The NC State police confirmed Wednesday that Duque-Wilckens was an assistant professor with the school’s department of biological sciences. She was awarded a research grant and sought to identify tools that underlie emotional regulation in an effort to treat depression and anxiety.
An NC State spokesperson provided a statement on her death.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague Natalia Duque-Wilckens, and our thoughts are with her family and friends. Support and resources are being provided to those in our community impacted by this loss.”
Police said the 19-year-old driver, Jack Etheridge, stayed on the scene with no injuries. He is cited with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle.
Police said this crash remains an ongoing investigation.
The driver of a box truck that crashed into a house in Raleigh was arrested early Friday morning after running from the scene.
Raleigh police told WRAL News that the box truck driven by 27-year-old Kenyon Tyree Pelzer crashed into the house on Raleigh Pines Drive around 12:40 a.m. Friday. He left the scene before authorities arrived.
No one inside the house was hurt.
Pelzer was charged with three misdemeanor counts of hit-and-run and leaving the scene with property damage, and with a commercial DWI. The warrant for his arrest stated that he damaged the exterior of the house and the backs of two cars.
The WRAL Breaking News Tracker captured video of the truck’s cab hitting the corner of a brick house.
The people inside the house told WRAL News they woke up to a loud crashing sound and realized a truck hit their home.
The next door neighbor said the truck also damaged three of their vehicles parked in the driveway. It left damage to their house as well. Pelzer’s arrest warrant doesn’t list any additional charge for damages to this other home or cars.
Raleigh police said the driver of the box truck was found before 2:30 a.m.
The box truck had a “LCM Logistics LLC” logo on the side with Durham, NC underneath. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s database lists the box truck as ‘inactive.’
Raleigh police are investigating a crash involving six vehicles, including a motorcycle.
Officers were called shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Monday to Atlantic Avenue near Six Forks Road. Police said one person was taken to the hospital and is expected to be OK.
Police said Atlantic Avenue is closed in both directions while police investigate the crash. Drivers are encouraged to detour using a nearby parking lot.
Police have not released the names of anyone involved and said no charges have been filed at this time.
Raleigh police officer Raul Francis calls his family almost daily.
After Monday, those calls have gone unanswered. Francis is trying to reach his parents in Jamaica and hasn’t heard from them since Hurricane Melissa left a path of destruction across the island nation.
“It just keeps ringing,” Francis said.
Melissa made landfall this week as a powerful Category 5 hurricane.
“I’m pretty much concerned,” Francis said. “However, I believe they are OK. It’s just that they don’t have power or internet service at this time.”
It’s a reality that many people in North Carolina with ties to Jamaica are facing.
Jamaican native and Rocky Mount resident Zabdiel Dawar got good news Thursday, days after the storm hit.
Minutes before an interview with WRAL News, Dawar received a long-awaited call from his mother in Jamaica letting him know she is doing well.
“I was just screaming when I saw mommy’s face,” Dawar said. “My mother is a praying lady, and she said during the entire ordeal that’s all she did was pray.”
Francis prays for a similar call and, in the meantime, is still answering calls for service.
“Even though I have my family on my mind, hoping that they’re OK, I still have to be levelheaded and try to make sure I’m focusing on the job at hand,” Francis said.
Francis hopes he’ll hear from loved ones soon as the destruction comes into better focus.
“I just want them to know that I love them, and I hope they’re OK,” Francis said. “That’s pretty much the most important thing right now.”
A Raleigh police officer is facing additional sex crime charges nearly a month after he was charged with coercing a crash victim into sexual favors to remove a DWI charge.
According to court documents, a grand jury indicted Tremale Cogdell, 28, on five counts of soliciting prostitution. Court documents said the crimes happened between August 1 and September 15 and involved five different people.
Police accused Cogdell of obstruction of justice by “failing to conduct and charge a DWI investigation in exchange for sexual acts. This offense was done in secrecy and malice.”
The crime is believed to have happened in the early morning hours of Sept. 12.
“After completing a call for service, Mr. Cogdell drove the victim back to his personal residence in his city of Raleigh police vehicle and a sexual encounter occurred while Mr. Cogdell was on duty,” said Rico Boyce, Raleigh’s Chief of Police.
Boyce said the State Bureau of Investigation contacted RPD on Sept. 26 about the incident involving Cogdell. Cogdell was then put on administrative leave that same day, according to Boyce.
As officers kept investigating, they say they found other people who were injured and they started giving them first aid.
It’s unclear if they are involved in the shooting, or how they were injured. Police didn’t say whether they were shot or if so, by who.
They were taken to the hospital.
Officers did have their body cameras turned on during last night’s shooting and those videos are being reviewed by the State Bureau of Investigation and RPD internal affairs.
More details about the shooting could be found in the next five days when RPD is required to release a report.
Rock Quarry Road was closed for several hours last night and Sunday morning, but has since re-opened.
ABC11 24/7 Streaming ChannelWatch Eyewitness News, First Alert Weather, and original programming.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — There is a heavy police presence at Rock Quarry Road as Raleigh Police conduct an undisclosed but “ongoing” investigation late Saturday night.
Just before midnight, RPD announced that Rock Quarry Road was closed between Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Vardaman Street.
Drivers and pedestrians are asked to avoid the area.
The roadway is not expected to reopen for several hours, possibly stretching into early Sunday morning.
No other information was immediately released.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
