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Sprouse, the owner of City Muffler at the corner of Lenoir Road and Rockyford Street, had just raised the garage bay doors at the shop to see how a completed job was looking when he heard sirens wailing in the distance.

“I hear this thing coming around the corner, it sounded just like a jet aircraft, just a bunch of screechin’ and skirchin’ going on,� Sprouse said. “We go over there and look and here comes a little white car around the corner, broad side, he’s pointing back at Kayga’s front doors over there.�

Interest piqued, Sprouse watched as the car — a 1993 Toyota Corolla that had been stolen from Caldwell County — straightened out and continued down Lenoir Street around the car wash across from City Muffler.

“He goes on around the car wash there, and when he went around the corner there … it got interesting again because he was looking at the car wash,� Sprouse said. “Then he went off the road there on the left. I was thinking ‘Smokey and the Bandit,’ there were so many police cars after that. I was like, ‘I thought this was just in the movies.’�

Slim Williams witnessed a similar sight at a nearby convenience store.

He had been turning onto Lenoir Road from Rockyford Street when he heard the sirens. He didn’t see anything headed his way, so he went on out into the road and stopped at a convenience store.

But as Williams walked into the store, he saw the Toyota Corolla coming, fishtailing all the way.

“I said, ‘Damn, he’s on fire,’� Williams said. “The man (at the store) said, ‘Yeah, he is.’ We looked and he’s fishtailing and he hit that curve.�

Video captured on cameras at City Muffler shows sparks flying off the tires of the Corolla as it passes by the store, but a press release from the Â鶹´«Ã½ Department of Public Safety said the man’s engine compartment ended up catching fire before all was said and done.

MDPS said the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office told them they were headed into city limits in pursuit of a stolen vehicle that already had been hit with a set of stop sticks in Lenoir and was running on just two tires and two rims.

MDPS Officer Mike Gates got into position on Lenoir Road at Shadowline Drive where he deployed another set of stop sticks, which successfully made contact with the car, the MDPS release said.

That wasn’t enough to bring the chase to an end, though. The driver continued on, even when all his tires were flattened or missing — like one Sprouse spotted that was on fire in the middle of Lenoir Road after the smoke had settled.

Finally, though, the driver pulled the car to a stop at the intersection of Avery Avenue and North Green Street.

The MDPS release said the man, identified as 38-year-old Joshua E. McClure, jumped out of the vehicle and took off. They took him into custody down the street from the car.

McClure ended up being transported to UNC Health from the scene, but he has since been released and charged with felony larceny of a motor vehicle, flee to elude arrest with a motor vehicle, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, along with misdemeanor charges of injury to personal property and hit and run, according to court records.

McClure already has previous convictions of possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and attempted speeding to elude arrest, both felonies, according to a records check on the North Carolina Department of Public Safety website.

He was due to appear in Caldwell County court Thursday.

The North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Burke County Sheriff’s Office and Burke County EMS all responded alongside MDPS and CCSO.