Greensboro chase ends in crash, hospital assault charges for driver

A late-night burnout on North Elm Street escalated into a chase, a crash and assault charges after Greensboro police say a 22-year-old driver nearly hit a patrol car, then later attacked medical staff at Moses Cone Hospital.

Greensboro police identified the driver as Tanner James Crowder. Officers said they saw him doing donuts near West Fisher Street around 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, a reckless move in one of Greensboro’s busier downtown corridors that immediately put motorists and officers at risk. Police said Crowder’s Jeep nearly struck a patrol car before the pursuit began.

The chase stretched into Huffman Street, where police said the vehicle ran off the road and hit a utility pole support wire. That crash ended the pursuit but added another layer of danger, with property damage and the possibility of further injury in a stretch of road already disrupted by the earlier driving.

Police said they believed Crowder was impaired. He was charged with driving while impaired, open container alcohol, felony speed to elude arrest, careless and reckless driving, failure to maintain lane control, driving left of center, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and failure to stop for a steady red light.

Court documents say the case widened again after Crowder was taken to Moses Cone Hospital, where he physically assaulted medical staff. The charge puts the incident beyond a traffic stop and into a broader public-safety problem that can land on emergency workers, nurses and hospital employees who are trying to treat a patient brought in under police custody. Online records showed Crowder had a $5,000 bond that had been posted.

The hospital-assault allegation also comes against a larger North Carolina backdrop. The Hospital Violence Protection Act of 2023 requires hospitals with emergency departments to maintain security plans, have law enforcement presence in the ER or on the same campus, and report violent incidents each year. State law, under North Carolina General Statute 14-34.6, makes assault on certain medical or emergency personnel a Class I felony when it causes physical injury while they are performing official duties.

For Greensboro, the case is a reminder of how quickly reckless driving can spill from a roadway into a hospital room, drawing in officers, bystanders and the medical staff who had to deal with the aftermath.