Man says a late-night trip to Wendy’s for a strawberry lemonade ended with police detaining him in his driveway

A North Carolina man says a late-night trip to Wendy’s for a strawberry lemonade turned into a frightening encounter with police after officers followed him home, detained him in his own driveway and accused him of driving 100 mph on a nearby street.

WXII 12 News reporter Erin Burnett said incident involved Reidsville resident Amadeus Purcell, who told the station that a Flock license plate camera apparently linked his vehicle to a reckless-driving investigation even though he said he had not been anywhere near the place at the time.

Purcell said the misunderstanding escalated within minutes, with several police vehicles filling his street while officers examined his car and told him they had enough evidence to arrest him and seize the vehicle.

The detail that ultimately appeared to change the direction of the encounter was surprisingly ordinary: a Wendy’s receipt sitting in his cup holder.

A Strawberry Lemonade Trip Turns Into A Police Stop

Burnett reported that Purcell drove to the Wendy’s off Freeway Drive late that evening because he wanted a strawberry lemonade.

He made the trip, returned home to Amos Street and pulled into his driveway, where he said he was about to take his first sip when he noticed a police car behind him.

“I look in my mirror, and I just see a cop car on the street,” Purcell told WXII 12.

He said the officer approached without lights or sirens and told him he was being detained.

According to Purcell, the officer then accused him of driving 100 mph on Scale Street and claimed there was camera evidence tying him to the incident.

Purcell recalled the officer saying, “I have you on camera. I have enough to arrest you right now and seize your car.”

The officer then showed him an image from a Flock camera, but Purcell said he immediately questioned what the picture actually proved.

“That doesn’t show me going 100 miles per hour,” he said. “It doesn’t show anything that you are saying.”

That is where the case becomes especially interesting, because a license plate image can look persuasive at first glance while still leaving major questions about timing, location and whether the vehicle being shown is truly the same one officers are searching for.

Multiple Police Cars Fill The Street

Purcell said the encounter intensified quickly after the first officer arrived.

“Within a minute, the whole street is filled with cop cars,” he told Burnett, adding that vehicles could barely move up or down the road because of the police presence.

Ring camera footage from his home showed at least four Reidsville police vehicles parked along Amos Street while officers inspected his car.

Purcell said officers looked closely at the tires and touched the hood, apparently using the condition and temperature of the car to support their belief that he had recently been driving at high speed.

“They were telling me, ‘The wires on your car are showing, so it has to be you,’” he said. “They were touching the hood, saying, ‘The car is still hot, it’s gotta be you.’”

Purcell remained convinced that police had the wrong person, but he said the situation had become difficult to control because officers appeared sure they had found the driver they were looking for.

His family eventually came outside as the confrontation continued.

A Wendy’s Receipt Changes The Conversation

The turning point came when Purcell remembered that the receipt from his fast-food stop was still inside the car.

He asked an officer to retrieve it from the cup holder.

According to Purcell, the time printed on the receipt showed that he could not have been on Scale Street at the same moment police believed the reckless-driving incident had occurred.

“From that receipt, he was able to see there was no way that I was at that street at the exact same time,” Purcell said.

He then noticed the officers’ position beginning to change.

Purcell said they started pointing out differences between his car and the vehicle they had originally been seeking, including the shape of the lights.

“They started rolling back,” he said, recalling officers saying the wanted vehicle had diagonal lights while his were square.

Purcell said those were exactly the kinds of differences he wished officers had noticed before they came to his home and treated him as a suspect.

The receipt is an almost absurdly simple piece of evidence compared with a network of license plate cameras and police databases, yet in Purcell’s telling, it became the clearest way to prove where he had actually been.

WXII 12 Traces The Route And Presses Police

Burnett reported that WXII 12 Investigates drove the same route Purcell said he took to Wendy’s.

The station found a Flock camera at the corner of Lawndale and Freeway Drive.

The newsroom then contacted the Reidsville Police Department several times seeking more information about what happened on August 20.

Police declined to provide additional details, saying in a statement that the matter involved an ongoing investigation.

“At this time, no additional information about the incident will be released,” the department said.

WXII 12 also asked whether Purcell himself remained under investigation, whether the police response was being reviewed and whether Flock cameras had played a role in the encounter.

Burnett said none of those questions had been answered as of the report.

The station also requested an incident report and records showing how officers used the cameras that day, but the department said it had no public record responsive to one of those requests.

Police did tell the station that Flock footage is retained for 30 days.

Purcell Wants Answers About The Cameras

Purcell and his attorney also filed a complaint with the Department of Justice, according to Burnett.

Purcell later received a response from the State of North Carolina saying the matter fell more appropriately under another agency because it involved a criminal issue.

He has since said he wants Flock cameras removed from his community and has created a petition calling for changes in how they are used.

The petition collected more than 400 signatures.

County Commissioner Houston Barrow responded by noting that state lawmakers control how Flock cameras are used on state roads such as Freeway Drive.

Purcell said he does not believe a simple apology would be enough.

“I’m really looking for hopefully no Flock cameras in this community,” he said.

That reaction is understandable given his account of how quickly a camera hit appeared to turn into a high-pressure police response outside his home, although the full role of the technology in the incident remains unclear because police have not publicly explained the investigation in detail.

“I Just Want To Know Why”

Burnett said WXII 12 Investigates continued pressing for answers after the initial report, particularly about whether police had mistaken one vehicle for another and what safeguards were in place before officers acted on automated license plate data.

Purcell said the experience left him shaken because of how close he felt he came to being arrested over something he insists he did not do.

“I just want to know why,” he said.

He also said the possibility of another mistake has made him uneasy.

“I can’t live like that; I don’t think anyone can,” Purcell told the station. “Just having to know that’s a possibility, it’s kind of scary.”

The case raises a broader question about what happens when automated surveillance tools are treated as investigative leads rather than definitive proof, especially when officers move quickly before checking whether the details of a vehicle actually match.

For Purcell, the immediate lesson was much simpler.

He told WXII 12 he now plans to ask for a receipt every time he buys something, because the piece of paper from Wendy’s may have been the one thing that stopped a late-night drink run from ending much worse.