October 31, 2018
By: Dwayne Page
Two men were taken into custody shortly after midnight this morning (Wednesday) after trying to outrun the Tennessee Highway Patrol reportedly in a stolen car before crashing near the public square downtown Smithville. After the wreck, the two bailed out of the car and attempted to flee on foot.
One of them unwittingly ran in the direction of the jail, which is located on the public square, and was caught by Sheriff Patrick Ray and Detective Stephen Barrett who were standing outside the Sheriff’s Office and saw him approaching. The arrest was made in front of the law office of Hilton Conger and Harry Lasser, only a few feet from the jail. When the man saw the lettering on the DeKalb County Jail Annex building and realized where he had run to he said to the officers “I will be damn. I ran to the f…ing jail. What a dumba.. (referring to himself)”
The other man, who was armed with a loaded handgun, was arrested in the area by Smithville Police Officer Tyler Patterson.
Both men were turned over to the Tennessee Highway Patrol. Charges are pending. Their names were not available last night.
The pursuit began in Wilson County and continued on Highway 70 into DeKalb County at 11:58 p.m. Tuesday night. A county deputy joined the THP in the pursuit at Liberty and Smithville Police Officers set up a road block at the intersection of Congress Boulevard and Broad Street to keep other traffic from crossing while the pursuit was approaching.
In Smithville the pursuit turned from Broad Street onto College Street at the bridge then east on Webb Street to South First Street before the car crashed on the property of Dr. Starla Meigs Office only a block off the public square.