STARKE– A Bradford County man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading to fleeing and eluding in a squatted GMC Yukon.
According to an arrest report, Colton Wesley White, 21, was arrested after Bradford Deputy T. Lovell spotted the defendant’s squatted SUV traveling 90 mph in a 50-mph zone westbound on State Road 16 near the eastern Starke city limit.
Lovell reported that after he activated his emergency lights, the vehicle took off and turned right onto Northeast 17th Avenue toward the Starke Golf and Country Club.
The deputy lost sight of the suspect. The chase began at 9:23 p.m. A witness where the chase began told another deputy that the suspect vehicle was a white, squatted SUV that passed her home at a high rate of speed and was very loud.
“Based on the information given, I had previous knowledge of a white GMC Yukon that was lifted in the front and lowered in the rear that resided on Southeast County Road 230-A,” wrote the officer in the report. “I arrived at the residence…where at the rear of the house, a white GMC Yukon was located.”
Lovell added that the defendant’s mother lived next door, and after he detained White, his mother asked to speak with him, which the officer allowed.
“While Colton’s mother was speaking to him,” Lovell wrote, “he spontaneously uttered to his mother that he had just gotten off work and was trying to beat his probation curfew.”
The defendant’s prior convictions include burglary, petit theft, and grand theft of a firearm.
Squatted trucks first appeared in California when Baja racers discovered that the impact of landing a jump was reduced by lowering the back and raising the front of their vehicles.
Pickup owners in North Carolina adopted the innovation as a cosmetic modification, which is also known as the Carolina Squat, Carolina Crawl, and Bulldog. The fad gained traction in the Tarheel State and spread to South Carolina before going nationwide.
By June 2023, both Carolinas had outlawed the modification because of safety concerns.
