Abbi Overfelt

Staff writer

LUMBERTON — Twenty-six assault charges against a 44-year-old Parkton man have been dismissed by Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt, who says Robeson is not the county in which the charges should have been filed — and that in his view, the charges should not have been filed at all.

Issac Nesby, of 58 Cold Camp Drive, was arrested on Monday on charges stemming from an incident on March 14 during which he crashed his vehicle into a Hoke County school bus after fleeing from police who were attempting to serve outstanding warrants.

“As I wrote on the dismissal, if the alleged assaults occurred, they occurred in Hoke County and the proper venue would be in Hoke County,” Britt said. “… The bigger issue is was there an assault on all 26 people on the school bus, and whether the venue had been proper or not; it’s my view that it was not an assault, it was a wreck.”

Britt said he had spoken with Kristy Newton, the district attorney for District 16A, which encompasses Hoke and Scotland counties, and that the decision was up to her rather or not the assault charges would be pursued in Hoke County.

Britt said for an assault charge to be applicable, it would have to be proven that Nesby intentionally ran into the bus, which had come to a stop near a curve on Chason Road. Britt said Nesby ran off of the road while coming around the curve, over-corrected and slid into the bus. Three or four of the passengers on the bus were taken to the hospital but none were seriously injured, Britt said.

“He sustained the most injuries in the collision,” Britt said. “He broke both legs, fractured a hip and had to be transported to Southeastern Regional Medical Center. From there he was airlifted to Chapel Hill.”

Britt said at that time, he had not been served with the outstanding warrants, and someone assisted Nesby by rolling him out of the hospital in a wheelchair before he was discharged.

Nesby faces two charges of threatening phone calls and three counts of failure to appear as well as trafficking opium and assault on a female in Robeson County. In Scotland County, he is charged with three counts of breaking and entering and felony conspiracy; in Hoke County, he faces a charge of felony fleeing to elude arrest and communicating threats.

Britt said Nesby also faces unrelated charges that involve orders for his arrest on a counterfeit trademark case in which he is accused of selling bootleg CDs and for which he failed to come to court. According to previous reports, a Red Springs clothing store that Nesby owned, Nesby Designs, was raided by law enforcement agents in February 2008. On April 5, 2008, the store burned to the ground in a fire that has been determined to be arson.