SALISBURY — An impromptu street race resulted in deputies chasing a motorcycle on Saturday night, eventually ending when the driver’s wife talked him into stopping.

The incident began when a deputy, parked near the intersection of West Innes Street and Statesville Boulevard, noticed a black pickup truck and a motorcycle pull up to a red light at the intersection, a spokesperson for the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said.

When the light turned green, both vehicles started driving away at a high rate of speed, appearing to the deputy to be racing. The deputy then turned on his lights and siren and attempted to stop both vehicles. The driver of the pickup truck pulled over but the driver of the motorcycle allegedly turned around and looked at the deputy before speeding up.

The deputy pursued the motorcycle westbound down Statesville Boulevard. As they passed Jake Alexander Boulevard, the deputy radioed communications to alert them that he was in a vehicle pursuit. As they passed the stop light in front of Arby’s, the driver of the motorcycle crossed the center line and began to drive into oncoming traffic, according to the spokesperson.

Eventually, the driver turned into the Hendrix Barbecue parking lot and got off of the motorcycle with his hands raised. There, the deputy noticed that there were two people on the motorcycle. He had been unable to differentiate the man and his wife on the motorcycle because they were both wearing black and it was dark.

The deputy placed the driver under arrest in the parking lot. When asked why he sped away, the man said that he did not realize that the deputy was behind him. He also said that if he had known, he would not have ran because he was already on probation for fleeing to elude.

On the way to the magistrate’s office to be booked into jail, the man allegedly told the deputy that he “should not have run,” and that he “could have killed his wife and himself.”

Franklin Lee Dellinger, 25, was charged with felony flee to elude, reckless driving, reckless driving to endanger, speeding, failure to stop for a siren and driving while his license was revoked. He was placed in the Rowan County Detention Center and given a $15,000 bond.

Dellinger has been convicted of felony flee to elude twice in the past. In December of 2020, he was convicted of felony speeding to elude causing a death related to an incident in Iredell County earlier that year. In October of 2021, he was convicted of felony speeding to elude again, this time related to an incident in Rowan in July of 2020.