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Troopers: Convicted DWI offender drives drunk, leads chase

By Dave Faherty, wsoctv.com
By Dave Faherty, wsoctv.com

STATESVILLE, N.C. — A suspected drunk driver took authorities on a chase then crashed into a pickup truck and a utility pole.
 
Carl Cathey told them that he drank a fifth of liquor Monday night then got behind the wheel Tuesday morning with a revoked driver's license, Iredell County deputies said.
 
The chase ended on the eastbound off-ramp from Interstate 40 to Center Street in Statesville.
 
Gladys Sharpe and her husband were heading to physical therapy, sitting at a red light when they felt the impact to the back of their truck and then saw the car careen into a power pole.

"We were going to the YMCA for water exercises for my husband, and we were sitting still, and we were hit," Sharpe said.
 
Her husband ended up going to the hospital instead of his physical therapy Tuesday morning.
 
Cathey blew through two red lights leading to the pursuit down I-40 prior to the accident.
 
The 29-year-old man was charged with DWI twice during the last two years including a conviction a year ago in Statesville. 

"It's not good for other people on the roads," Sharpe said. "There are so many lives that are involved and other people could be killed by carelessness on other people's part."

Authorities were not surprised that Cathey was allegedly drunken driving in the morning.

"People are driving drunk on alcohol and drugs at all times of the day," Trooper Brett Marr said.

When if the time of day matters, he responded, "No sir, it doesn't."

Fortunately, the injuries to Sharpe's husband were not serious, and deputies say they seized Cathey's car because of the previous DWI's.
 
Cathey is in jail under a $25,000 bond

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