A routine traffic stop turns into a high-speed chase which ends with a Batesville man facing drug charges.
Independence County Sheriff’s Deputy Aaron Moody said he was conducting a traffic stop on a 2009 Hyundai Sonata, Tuesday, May 24, according to authorities. The driver signaled he was going to turn into Daylight Doughnuts off St. Louis Street in Batesville, but he then sped up and the chase began.
The effort to stop the vehicle went through numerous Batesville streets before ending up on White Drive and heading east. Sheriff Shawn Stephens joined the pursuit to assist.
Moody said near Crown Colony, the suspect in the vehicle began to throw items from the vehicle’s front passenger window. Just past Gainesboro, a deputy set spike strips which the suspect was able to avoid.
The chase continued to Charlotte, where a second set of spike strips was successfully deployed, but the suspect’s car continued at a high speed toward Cord.
Sheriff Stephens blocked one route and made the suspect turn south on Cord Road toward other officers who were set up to assist. The fleeing vehicle’s front tire had gone flat, and it came to a stop.
The driver, 47-year-old John W. Arnold of Batesville, resisted arrest, according to the official report, but was cuffed and taken into custody by officers on the scene.
An inventory of the vehicle found methamphetamine, baggies, and scales, according to Moody. He said formal charges will be submitted to the prosecuting attorney.
Charges will include: felony fleeing; possession of methamphetamine with the purpose to deliver — another felony; possession of drug paraphernalia –a felony; reckless driving; resisting arrest; and littering the highway.
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