North Carolina man, who believes he is Jesus Christ, arrested after police chase

Conway, S.C. (WPDE) — A North Carolina man, who told police he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ, was arrested after a police chase that was caught on video.

One person sent ABC 15 News cell phone video, and another, an Uber driver, sent car dash cam footage.

Joseph Kevin Crump, 42, of North Carolina, is charged with reckless driving, failure to stop for blue light, leaving the scene of an accident, improper lane change and hit and run, according to J. Reuben Long Detention Center.

Horry County police and Coastal Carolina University police responded to the incident.

A CCU police report states around 10 a.m. on April 8, officers were called to U.S. 501 near HGTC after a chase that started on Highway 544 and went down Singleton Ridge Road.

When the CCU officer, who was assisting HCPD, arrived the suspect, who was driving a yellow car, was coming down the wrong side of 501 toward Conway. According to the report, HCPD had blown out one tire with stop sticks.

Stephen North, who witnessed the chase, said he and his boss were going to get breakfast and saw the officers chasing the suspect.

He told us that he could see officers throwing down stop sticks, so they pulled over and that is when they saw the suspect drive by.

“Gets into the oncoming traffic to go around the spikes and probably about 10 to 15 cops chasing after behind him. We kept going down the road, you know, after the cop moved the spikes out of the way and tried to catch up,” North said.

He went on to say, “You can see in the video, the cop throwing down some more spikes on the road but as the car came up to the spikes, he just stopped and put his hands out the window. That's when the cops, you know, ripped him out and put him in cuffs and threw him into the back of the car.”

An Horry County police report says that officers responded to St. Michaels Catholic Church in Garden City for a suspicious call.

While en route, they saw the yellow car that matched the description of a vehicle involved in a hit and run in Conway.

When police verified the license plate and tried to pull the driver over, the driver stopped in the church parking lot, but when the officer got closer, he drove off.

A person at the church tried to step in front of the slow moving vehicle, but the driver didn't stop. He drove onto a sidewalk and into the grassy area near the church and then left the parking lot.

That is when the high speed chase started, according to the police report, but the driver continued to disregard the lights and sirents.

Stop sticks were set up at Prestwick Club Drive and Highway 544, but they were unsuccessful.

The driver kept going toward Conway on Highway 544 and when the driver turned onto Singleton Ridge Road, officers were able to stop him traveling west in the east bound lane of traffic on Highway 501.

Police searched the man's car and found a large amount of cash inside a coach purse in the trunk of the car. There was also a large collection of rare coins and a large black briefcase that was locked. Crump told police the briefcase was not his and that he did not know the combination to it.

He requested medical care and was taken to the hospital. While at the hospital, he told the officer that he was thereincarnation of Jesus Christ.

When police asked a family member about the coin collection, she stated that her late father had given it to Crump.

A police report states "Crump had earlier mentioned that since he was the reincarnated Jesus Christ that he had no earthly possessions and did not claim the coin collection. Because a proper owner of the coin collection could not be identified, it was entered into evidence as found property along with the other property from the vehicle."