Knife-wielding man steals occupied taxi — and crashes during rush hour, Raleigh cops say
A man stole an occupied taxi — then got out of the car and dashed across Interstate 40 in North Carolina, officials said.
Officers were called at about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday to a reported carjacking on Cooke and Edenton streets, at the edge of downtown Raleigh, according to the city’s police department.
Police said a man — later identified as 34-year-old Kenneth Wesley Lloyd — first tried to get into a stopped taxi before realizing the driver’s side door wouldn’t open.
“A few moments later, another taxi was driving down the street, which was already occupied by a customer, and the suspect demanded a ride,” Raleigh police spokesperson Laura Hourigan told McClatchy News in an email. “When the driver refused, the suspect jumped on the car and produced a knife.”
Lloyd is accused of getting into the cab and driving off before the taxi driver and passenger were able to escape and call 911.
It was still rush hour when Lloyd reportedly crashed the taxi on I-40 near Raleigh-Durham International Airport.
ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner, said one of its crews saw the suspect get out of the cab and run past cars on the interstate.
“He got on the hood of that car and climbed up on the windshield and was aggressively banging on the windshield as hard as he could,” Kate Mercer told WRAL. “And then he started to climb on the roof.”
The incident shut down all westbound lanes near the Aviation Parkway exit before the wreck was cleared.
Police didn’t share attorney information for Lloyd, who was arrested on Wednesday and taken to the Wake County jail. He was charged with “attempted common law robbery, second degree kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a deadly weapon,” police said.
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