September 14, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
A Lebanon man wanted for aggravated kidnapping and statutory rape led Smithville Police on a pursuit Friday before crashing his vehicle and fleeing on foot into the woods. About an hour and a half later he was arrested after a Tennessee Highway Patrol K-9 unit flushed him out of the woods.
26 year old Tyler Shawn Fowler is under a $30,000 bond on charges of statutory rape and felony evading and will make a court appearance on September 30.
The incident unfolded Friday, September 10 at around 3:15 p.m. on Meadowbrook Drive as Fowler tried to outrun Smithville Police. When the officer initiated his lights and sirens, Fowler began to increase his speed and refused to stop. After about a 15 minute chase, Fowler ran the vehicle he was driving into a ditch and began to flee on foot. The Tennessee Highway Patrol was later summoned to help search the woods using a K-9. At the time officers thought Fowler might be armed. He was not. Trooper Bobby Johnson, Trooper Andrew Coppinger, and THP K-9 officer Adam Cothron and his dog Draco arrived on the scene.
“We responded to Tabernacle Road due to a man who had fled on foot into the woods and was possibly armed. He was wanted for aggravated kidnapping. They requested our K-9 assistance. The K-9 came from Trousdale County and upon arrival he began to track. After a couple of minutes he located the suspect in some brush. Fowler wouldn’t comply with commands to get on the ground or get his hands up so the K-9 was deployed and drug him out from the brush. Fowler was then checked out by DeKalb EMS and taken into custody,” said Trooper Johnson.