LEXINGTON, N.C. (AP) - A man was indicted on first-degree murder and other counts for an automobile chase six months ago in central North Carolina that officials say ended with a passenger in the car dying when sheriff’s deputies fired toward him.
Charles Justin Boothe, 32, of Winston-Salem was served with the indictments on Thursday night, Davidson County District Attorney Gary Frank said. Boothe was in the county jail without bond, awaiting a Sept. 29 court date, Frank told the Winston-Salem Journal. It’s not clear if he has an attorney.
Boothe drove 15 mph above the speed limit on March 26, according to indictments. The chase started in Clemmons and went into Guilford and Davidson counties before ending in Lexington.
Boothe is accused of murder in the death of John Mark Hendrick Jr., 32, even though authorities that deputies fired weapons at him. Frank said Boothe faces a murder charge under the felony murder rule, which allows such a charge if a killing is committed during the commission of another felony.
In this case, authorities allege, Boothe assaulted two Davidson deputies with a stolen sport utility vehicle. Charges against Boothe include two counts of fleeing to elude in a motor vehicle and two counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a government official.
The State Bureau of Investigation probed the fatal shooting. Deputies Barry Lee Bartrug III and Matthew Jacob Shelton, who authorities say were involved in the shooting, were not criminally charged in the case. They are now back on active duty, according to Davidson Sheriff Richie Simmons.
Hendrick’s mother sued the deputies in federal court last month, alleging his constitutional rights were violated in the fatal shooting and that excessive force used by Bartrug and Shelton, “by shooting and killing Hendrick, served no legitimate law enforcement objective.” The deputies’ attorneys haven’t yet filed a response.
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