Man steals university landscaping truck, flees police

PENDER COUNTY — Police say a local man is very lucky to be alive tonight after a vehicle chase and crash.

UNCW Police say 24-year-old Gary Henderson Jr. stole a landscaping truck from the university this morning.

A Pender County deputy spotted Henderson driving the truck and tried to pull him over, but Henderson took off.

Investigators say he ran a red light at Sloop’s Point Road and Highway 17 and smashed into a guardrail, sending the truck catapulting some 80 feet.

Campus police say this is a first for them.

Capt. Gunnar Matthews said, “This is a first, we’ve never had a university vehicle, or a vehicle owned by the university stolen that I know of.”

Henderson was taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. He will be charged by campus police for felony larceny of a motor vehicle.

Henderson will likely face charges by Pender County deputies for leading them on a chase.