High speed chase Tuesday
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Sheriff’s deputies arrested the driver of a vehicle going in excess of 100 miles per hour Tuesday afternoon.
Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Williams was traveling down Ga. 97 South near the entrance to Southlands Experimental Forest when he observed a dark green Ford Crown Victoria traveling 117 miles per hour in the opposite lane of traffic.
Williams turned his cruised around to give chase and pulled over the speeder. The car quickly attempted to turn on Horseshoe Bend Road and apparently lost control, driving through a ditch and striking a vehicle in a nearby lot containing farm equipment.
Williams stopped the car as it was trying to get back onto Ga. 97 North.
The driver of the vehicle Stacy Smart, 18, of Decatur County, was arrested and charged with speeding and leaving the scene of an accident. The other two passengers in the vehicle were released.
New Year’s Eve awakening
On New Year’s Eve, a Bainbridge woman was awakened by a loud noise of something striking her home on East Water Street.
The next day she called the police and reported to Bainbridge Public Safety Officer Gary Hines that she had found a hole in the wall of her bathroom and bathtub.
It appeared a bullet had struck the wall and bathtub and is believed to be lodged in the vinyl siding of the house, according to incident reports.
Juvenile reports
With schools being out for the Christmas holiday, there have been a number of incidents involving juveniles reported to local law enforcement.
The following occurrences were taken from incident reports.
On Jan. 3, a 16-year-old male juvenile was arrested for shoplifting a cell phone case from Wal-Mart.
A 14-year-old female runaway juvenile was picked up on Jan. 4. She ran away from home after a confrontation with her mother.
Two female juveniles were asked to leave Bainbridge Mall Cinemas because they caused a disturbance. The two children refused to leave and the police were called. Witnesses said the two girls were loud and cursing. The officer had the girls call their parents to come pick them up.
There was also a disturbance in the parking lot of Burger King on Shotwell Street. A female told officers she had pulled into the parking lot when two juvenile females walked in front of the car yelling for her to get out and fight before kicking her car and going inside. The two girls said they asked the driver why she tried to run them over and then walked inside.
On Jan. 2, a bicycle was reported stolen from a home on Russ Street in Bainbridge. Two days later on Jan. 4, the owner of the bike found a 14-year-old male juvenile riding the bike. The boy claimed it was his bike, but when the owner told him she was calling the police, he got off the bike and ran away.
New Year’s Eve deadly on Georgia roads
Atlanta—The New Year’s holiday travel period ended at midnight Sunday with 20 traffic deaths reported to the Georgia State Patrol over the 102-hour period. The traffic deaths were recorded in 17 fatal crashes that occurred between 6 p.m. New Year’s Eve and midnight Sunday.
Wet roads for the third consecutive holiday period contributed to a higher than normal number of crashes, especially between noon and midnight Friday. During that 12-hour period, 955 traffic crashes and 240 injuries were reported.
During the 2007-08 New Year’s holiday travel period, which was also 102 hours long, there were 3,108 traffic crashes, 1,250 injuries, and 22 traffic deaths recorded.
One of the deaths occurred in Southwest Georgia and was reported by the GSP’s Americus post.
Arrests & Citations
The following arrests and citations, occurring between Jan. 3-6, have been reported by Bainbridge Public Safety and the Decatur County Jail:
• Wesley Dewayne Tillery, 33, 2291 E. River St., Bainbridge, disorderly conduct, BPS;
• Francisco Alvarez, 34, 738 Broughton St., Bainbridge, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, BPS;
• Richard Braxton Barber, 55, 934 Hatcher Road, Bainbridge, parole violation, SO;
• Ebony Desean Brooks, 30, 545 Orange St., Bainbridge, contempt of court (two counts), SO;
• Kerri Dee Dollar, 31, 990 Old Pelham Road, Climax, Ga., deposit account fraud (two counts), SO;
• Charles Edwin Freeman, 32, 1015 E. Broughton St., Bainbridge, possession of arms by convicted felon, BPS;
• Juan Raymundo Montelongo, 28, Seagoville, Texas, DUI, GSP;
• Silverio Diaz Perez, 23, 106 Griffin Ave., Attapulgus, DUI, driving without license, GSP;
• Joyce Vertoria Phipps, 68, Tallahassee, Fla., DUI, possession of prescription drug not in original container, GSP;
• Edith Elizabeth Pough, 36, 738 Broughton St., Bainbridge, disorderly conduct, public drunkenness, BPS;
• Jeremy Cecil Tomberlin, 27, 108 Hubert Dollar Drive, Bainbridge, forgery in first degree, BPS;
• Kent Lee Webb, Jr., 32, unlawful possession of a firearm by convicted felon, parole violation, BPS;
• Carroll Emory Wynn, 59, 2621 Fowlstown Road, Bainbridge, DUI, child endangerment, GSP;
• William Johnson, 38, 2124 Central Drive, Bainbridge, simple battery, BPS;
• Justin Hayes, 21, 914 Dennard St., Bainbridge, probation warrant, BPS;
• Latavis Jeffery, 22, 1214 E. Troupe St., Bainbridge, loitering, BPS;
• Figueroa Vasquez, 31, 128 Tyler Road, Bainbridge, driving without valid license, BPS;
• Fidel Rodriguez, 61, 400 Batten Road, Bainbridge, driving without valid license, BPS;
• Chistaunda Smith, 51, 806 Martin St., Bainbridge, no insurance, BPS;
• Erica Marie Nix, 18, 817 Colquitt Hwy., Bainbridge, driving without license, failure to dim bright lights, BPS;
• Helio Aregullin, 21, 2459 Colquitt Hwy., Bainbridge, driving without license on person, failure to maintain lane, SO;
• Rose Ann Jenkins, 33, 241 Main St., Attapulgus, driving while license suspended or revoked, improper backing, DUI, open container, GSP;
• Paul Ray Nelson, 22, Bay City, Mich., parole violation—original charge forgery, SO;
• Luke Smith, 18, 1814 E. Water St., Bainbridge, shoplifting, BPS;
• Larry Frank Toliver, 44, 171 Carter Mills Road, Bainbridge, pedestrian under influence, SO;
• Merry April Turner, 25, 421 Martin Road, Bainbridge, criminal damage to property (second degree), SO;
• Donell Washington, 50, 1601 Smart Road, Bainbridge, failure to stop at red light, DUI, GSP;
• Charles Edward Weston, 44, Havana, Fla., possession of marijuana (less than ounce), GSP;
• Benjam