ZEBULON – Police are searching for the driver of a truck involved in a theft and chase early this morning that left a rookie police officer with a broken leg.

Sgt. Tivon Howard and Off. Brandon Atwood responded to a call of a suspicious person at the Scotchman convenience store at 503 W. Gannon Avenue about 2 a.m.

The clerk at the store told them some men had been acting weirdly outside the store and that they appeared drunk.

According to police Chief Tim Hayworth one of the men came into the store, stole some beer and the men left on a blue 2002 Ford Ranger headed west on N.C. 97 toward Lizard Lick.

Police found the truck backed up to a propane tank storage area at the Swift Mart in Lizard Lick, at the intersection of Marshburn Road and N.C. 97.

Howard approached the truck on the driver’s side, while Atwood went to the passenger side of the vehicle where the door was open.

As police approached the truck, the driver put the vehicle in gear and started backing up.

The man in the passenger seat tried to close the door, trapping Atwood in the door frame.

Atwood managed to pull his weapon and fire three shots, but wasn’t able to hit anything.

The driver stopped the truck, put it in drive and Atwood fell out.

The truck ran over Atwood’s leg, breaking it just above the ankle, Hayworth said.

Highway Patrol trooper D.B. Simmons saw the vehicle on N.C. 96 near Jack Mitchell Road, north of Zebulon. Simmons gave chase and the truck wrecked in a ditch on Ferrell Road, just east of N.C. 96.

The driver, believed to be Jason Earl Anthony, 32, of 103 Jordan Lane, Wake Forest, got out of the truck and ran away. Simmons detained the other three people in the truck.

They are identified as Terry Lynn Pearce Sr., 43, of 1252 M.C. Wilder Road, Louisburg; his son, Terry Lynn Pearce Jr., 20, of 4510 Momose Tree Lane, Raleigh, and Ashley Elizabeth Jones, 19, of 1980 Spring Drive, Garner. Hayworth described the suspects as desperate to elude police.

“At one point during the chase, one of the suspects crawled out of the back window of the truck and the trooper thought he was going to try to jump from the truck. But he started throwing propane tanks at the trooper,” Hayworth said.

Police are still interviewing the Pearces and Jones at the Zebulon Police Department at this hour. Hayworth said they are not being fully cooperative with investigators who are trying to find Anthony. Hayworth said police were told that Anthony took a gun from the vehicle when he ran, so they are describing him as armed and dangerous.

Charges in the case include attempted murder of a police officer, larceny, resisting arrest and a number of traffic-related expenses.

Atwood, the officer injured in the first contact with the suspects, was treated and released from WakeMed. He has been in the department’s field training program just 12 days.