September 8, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
A 55 year old man who led Smithville Police on a 12 mile pursuit from the city limits to Silver Point over two years ago was sentenced Tuesday in DeKalb County Criminal Court.
Marty Tallent entered a plea to evading arrest and received a two year sentence to serve. He was given jail credit of 242 days
Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins told WJLE at the time that the incident began on the morning of August 12, 2019 when then Lieutenant Detective Matt Holmes spotted Tallent in front of him driving recklessly in his Volkswagen Jetta on South Congress Boulevard near the New Life Pentecostal Church.
“He (Lieutenant Detective) Holmes noticed a vehicle acting strangely in front of him (on South Congress Boulevard). That vehicle (Tallent’s car) then just stopped in the middle of the road in front of Holmes,” said Chief Collins.
Holmes could be heard on the police scanner reporting to central dispatch that he (Tallent) kept braking trying to get him (Holmes) to hit him.
“Tallent then pulled over to the shoulder and back into oncoming traffic before doing a uturn causing an approaching motorist to almost wreck,” Chief Collins continued.
According to Police, Tallent flipped Holmes a bird as he made his getaway.
Lieutenant Detective Holmes then turned around and gave chase as Tallent headed north on Congress Boulevard running through traffic lights speeding out of town. Chief Collins, Captain Steven Leffew, and Officer Will Judkins joined the pursuit which continued often at high speeds on Highway 56 north (Cookeville Highway) out of the city.
Chief Collins eventually took over as the lead officer in the pursuit and tried to ram Tallent’s car as the chase neared Interstate 40 at Silver Point in Putnam County .
“As we were nearing the church at Silver Point running 60-70 miles per hour I noticed there was a lot of traffic so I thought now would be my time. When he (Tallent) hit his brakes like he was going to stop in the line of traffic, I tried to get around to slow him down but when I pulled up beside him he rammed me in the passenger side of my patrol car but I was going fast enough that I was able to get in front of him. Tallent then got onto the shoulder of the oncoming lane and tried to pass me but I rammed him and the impact sent his car into a yaw before it shot across the road toward the driveway of a residence. Lieutenant Detective Holmes then rammed Tallent’s car and it spun around before coming to a stop,” said Chief Collins.
The officers jumped from the patrol cars and drew their weapons as they approached Tallent but they placed him under arrest without incident.
Putnam and DeKalb EMS responded but no one had to be transported to the hospital although Chief Collins sustained a sore foot from the incident.
The patrol cars driven by Chief Collins and Lieutenant Detective Holmes were damaged and taken out of service at the time.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol investigated the crashes