[imagesource: YouTube / ABC15 Arizona]

A man in Charlotte, North Carolina, provoked police into a maddening cross-city car chase that lasted around two hours and involved three different stolen cars, along with a number of crashes.

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) chopper caught the dramatic incident as it unfolded on Wednesday.

Police spotted the suspect from the air just before 11AM after getting a call about a break-in at a home where a Jeep was stolen.

The CMPD then tailed the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Tyler Christopher Harding, for hours as he flounced around, at one point swapping the Jeep for a stolen white pickup truck.

This is when he was joined by his sister, Christa Harding, per WSOC-TV:

At about noon, the pickup truck pulled into the Walmart on South Tryon Street in south Charlotte where it crashed into a parked car.

The Hardings were seen getting out of the truck and getting into an unoccupied Toyota Corolla that was parked and left running.

In the video, you can see Christa making a gesture to Tyler, who then drives off on his own.

Christa was apparently taken into custody and faced a charge of possession of a stolen vehicle.

Shortly before the high-speed chase ended after 1:30PM, Tyler managed to crash the Toyota into another car, where he then stole a black Infinity SUV, which he then crashed at another intersection.

I guess the man was over it at that point because he got out of the car – shirtless? – surrendering to police with his arms in the air, allowing himself to be swiftly arrested.

This video offers a summary of all the drama:

The crash and arrest come in at 15 minutes in this previously live-streamed video, which shows the final part of the chase in real-time:

The chance-taker has been slapped with a slew of charges, according to the jail records following the chase:

1. Breaking or entering a motor vehicle
2. Breaking and/or entering
3. Felony hit-and-run
4. Flee/Elude arrest with a motor vehicle
5. Four counts of larceny of a motor vehicle — three felonies, one misdemeanour
6. Possession of a stolen motor vehicle
7. Misdemeanor larceny
8. Second-degree burglary

Police said Harding has similar charges in Texas.

He’ll be in court today and will need to sort out bonds totalling $115 000.

Besides the insane cost of petrol at the moment – or gas, as they call it in America – that’s one seriously expensive crime spree, Tyler.

[source:wsoctv]