A man, accused of a 2023 murder, crashed into a vehicle, killing one person and injuring another during a high-speed chase on Saturday night while out on bail.
Darren Lyndell Powell, 25, is charged with speeding to elude arrest causing death, reckless driving, speeding, failure to heed light or siren, unsafe passing of a yellow line, failure to wear a seatbelt and failure to stop at a red light, according to court records.
According to State Highway Patrol Sgt. N. Oxendine, Powell was traveling south in an Acura on N.C. 87 in Harnett County at about 11 p.m. when he was spotted by a Highway Patrol officer. Oxendine said Powell was initially clocked at 109 mph, nearly double the speed limit of 55 mph, and was seen passing using the center turn lane.
“The trooper never really caught up to him,” Oxendine said. “It was just outside the city limits of Spring Lake, and then he traveled through the city limits; that’s where he got into the collision.”
After a brief chase, less than a minute after officers observed the speeding vehicle, Powell collided with a Honda driven by Ismael Apolinar-Heredia, 26, of Robeson County, who was turning west into the Walmart Supercenter on 670 Lillington Highway.