Nurse stops to help after crash on I-77, ends up in armed confrontation

CHARLOTTE — A Concord woman says she stopped to help someone who had just been in a car crash, but the encounter ended in her own car almost being stolen and a man threatening her and her son with a gun.

Channel 9’s Eli Brand spoke with Natalie Harrington who says she was traveling on Interstate 77 towards the Interstate 85 exit Monday night when she saw a car crash through a guardrail. She says she got out to help, and that’s when the situation changed.

Harrington captured cell phone video after she and her son were safe. The car that crashed can be seen in the median off of the interstate in north Charlotte and police searching it.

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She says the car began swerving through traffic before crashing into the median.

“The back of the car started fishtailing, and me and my son said ‘Oh no, he is going to lose control,’” Harrington said.

After the crash, Harrington, who is a nurse, jumped into action. She says when she and her son reached the car, no one was inside. They say another witness told her they saw someone jump out.

When she and her son turned around, they saw their own car doors open and found a man inside. Harrington says the man asked them to help him get up the street before threatening them by saying he had a gun and reaching for his waist.

“It just, kind of, made me say I should have just stayed in my car, called 911 and not got out,” Harrington said. “That’s kind of how I feel now, and I don’t want to feel that way because someone could have actually been hurt.”

Harrington says seconds after the threat was made, officers with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department arrived and grabbed the man while he tried to run away. She says police told her they had been chasing the car after the man drove away during a traffic stop.

“Next time, if this was to happen again, now I will be more mindful of thinking and assessing first,” she said.

Thankfully, both Harrington and her son are physically ok.

Channel 9 is reaching out to police to find out who was taken into custody by police and if they have been charged.

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