A driver pulled over to help with a car crash — then his SUV was stolen with his five children inside, North Carolina officials said.
The dad reportedly had gotten out of his Chevrolet Suburban after witnessing a multicar wreck near the coast Sunday. While he checked on people who had been in the crash, one of the drivers from the scene jumped into his SUV and drove off, according to the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials said it happened about 12:40 p.m. Sunday near Augusta Drive and N.C. Highway 158 in Grady. The area is across the Currituck Sound from Corolla, an Outer Banks destination known for its wild horses.
The driver accused of taking the SUV left the area of the crash and drove north on Caratoke Highway before she got out and ran away, officials said in a news release.
The children who had been in the SUV during the ordeal were “extremely shaken” but otherwise not hurt, according to deputies.
The driver — identified as Markell Hancox of Chesapeake, Virginia — was later caught, officials said. Her age and attorney information weren’t shared in the news release. Hancox is charged with five “counts of second degree kidnapping, leaving the scene of an accident and larceny of a motor vehicle,” deputies said. She was taken to the Currituck County Jail.
The Currituck County Sheriff’s Office didn’t immediately share additional details about the crash with McClatchy News.
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