BLYTHEWOOD – Two men were arrested Tuesday morning after stealing two rolls of copper worth $8,000 from Fairfield Electric and leading Richland County Sheriff’s deputies on a car chase of just under 2 miles.
According to the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, 18-year-old Dajon Whitaker, of 1607 Stahl St., Cayce, and 24-year-old Lyndon Douglas, of 1632 Malcolm Drive, Columbia, activated an alarm when they jumped a fence and broke into Fairfield Electric at 701 Blythewood Road just after 3 a.m. Responding to the alarm, deputies arrived in time to spot a 2001 Pontiac fleeing from the lot. Deputies attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the Pontiac hit the accelerator and raced down Blythewood Road. The Pontiac made it as far as the intersection of Blythewood Road and Wilson Blvd. before leaving the roadway and crashing. Whitaker emerged from the wreckage and surrendered to deputies. Douglas, meanwhile, fled on foot, setting off a search that ended a short time later when the Sheriff’s Department received a call of a suspicious person walking through a neighborhood near the 100 block of Elton Walker Lane, just off Sandfield Road. Douglas was apprehended there, a little more than 1 mile from the scene of the crash.
The copper rolls were recovered from inside the trunk of the wrecked Pontiac. Both Douglas and Whitaker are charged with burglary and were transported to the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Columbia.
