Stolen truck catches fire during deputy chase in South Carolina. Man arrested

A Texas man was arrested after speeding in a stolen pickup truck on a South Carolina highway before the engine caught fire, the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said Friday.

A deputy patrolling Interstate 95 on the morning of June 25 noticed a pickup truck traveling northbound above the speed limit. The deputy's radar recorded its speed at 94 mph, the sheriff's office said.

The officer pursued the truck, whose driver was “driving recklessly,” including passing other vehicles on the shoulder of the road. During the chase, the truck’s engine caught fire and sprayed fuel onto the deputy’s car. The truck then left the road near mile marker 140 and crashed into a fence next to the highway.

The deputy rushed to the vehicle to rescue the man and take him into custody, but another deputy who arrived on the scene saw the man run away along the fence, then run onto the highway and into a wooded area.

Additional deputies and K-9 teams arrived and began searching for the man. They found him hiding in a ditch, where he was taken into custody.

Donald Edward Reed Jr., 33, of Prairie Grove, Texas, was charged with failing to stop for a blue light, going 30 mph over the speed limit and striking facilities on or near the highway. The Sumter Sheriff's Office identified him as a “violent offender” and a “threat to law enforcement.”

Further investigation revealed that the truck had been stolen from a Colleton County resident.

Reed refused emergency medical services at the scene but was taken to a hospital to be examined. He was then taken to the Sumter County Sheriff's Office Detention Center, where he is being held at the Colleton County Sheriff's Office.