The State - News from March 23, 1989

An American-Indian fugitive who sought asylum in the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco said the decision was “a desperate act” to draw attention to corruption and human rights violations back home in North Carolina. Eddie Hatcher, 31, said from the Oakland City Jail that he entered the consulate March 10 to end his two months as a fugitive. He was arrested by the FBI when he left the building. Hatcher had been on the run since fleeing North Carolina in December to escape state charges for seizing 17 hostages in taking over a newspaper in Lumberton, N.C., Feb. 1, 1988. The hostages were released unharmed and a federal jury acquitted Hatcher last December. The state then charged him in the same case, prompting him to claim double jeopardy.