A Granite Falls man is accused of leading Burke County deputies on a high-speed chase in Icard earlier this month.
Jim Xiong, 35, was charged with trafficking a schedule II controlled substance, possession with intent to manufacture, sell or deliver a schedule II controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a felon, flee/elude arrest with a motor vehicle, possession of drug paraphernalia and carrying a concealed weapon, according to information from the Burke County Sheriff’s Office.
It was around 4:41 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 8, when deputies on patrol in Icard near Old N.C. Highway 10 saw a red Kawasaki motorcycle with no license plate, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies tried to stop the motorcycle and it pulled over into the parking lot of a nearby restaurant before accelerating from the parking lot onto Miller Bridge Road, the sheriff’s office said.
The motorcycle reached speeds as high as 90 mph and the driver, later identified as Xiong, threw a backpack from his shoulders onto Miller Bridge Road.
He lost control of the motorcycle and crashed a short time later, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies found the discarded backpack which had several plastic bags with a crystalline substance, a digital scale and a concealed firearm inside it, the sheriff’s office said. The substance field tested positive for methamphetamine. Deputies found more than 1 pound of meth, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies requested EMS to the scene, but Xiong refused to be taken to a hospital by EMS. He complained of shoulder pain, so deputies took him to UNC Health Blue Ridge where physicians kept him for observation, the sheriff’s office said.
In September, Xiong was released from parole for a 2022 conviction of attempted trafficking of a schedule II controlled substance and possession with intent to sell a schedule VI substance, according to records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
His bond information and court date will not be available until he is arraigned at the Burke County Magistrate’s Office.
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