An allegedly impaired driver was arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges early Sunday after reportedly fleeing Garland County sheriff's deputies and twice striking one deputy's unit during the pursuit.
Paul Andrew Clark, 24, who lists a Music Mountain Road address, was taken into custody shortly before 2:30 a.m. and charged with felony counts of aggravated assault, fleeing and theft of property over $1,000, each punishable by up to six years in prison, and misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated, drugs, first offense, reckless driving and leaving the scene of a property damage accident, punishable by up to one year in jail.
Clark, who was also cited for three counts of failure to yield or stop and having no or an expired driver's license, was being held on a $13,000 bond and was set to appear Monday in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly after 2 a.m. Sunday, Sheriff's Cpl. Fred Hawthorn was westbound on Northshore Drive when he came up behind a red Chevrolet pickup truck that was "going very slow."
As he approached closer, Hawthorn noted the truck sped up a little, but not over the speed limit. As they reached Marion Anderson Road, the truck stopped at the intersection but then made a U-turn back onto Northshore. As the truck's headlights shined on Hawthorn's unit, the driver accelerated at a high rate of speed "leaving black marks" on the road.
The truck headed back east on Northshore as Hawthorn turned around and pursued it with lights and siren activated. The truck sped out of sight as several other sheriff's units joined in the pursuit. At one point, Deputy Grant Yarbrough located the truck, but it sped away from him.
Hawthorn set up at the intersection of Northshore and Southshore to try to block the truck in, but the truck drove through a yard to avoid him, almost hitting his unit, and then ran a stop sign as it sped away west on Northshore.
The truck turned onto Cochise Street to Warpath back to Northshore, running a stop sign again, and then deputies lost sight of it again briefly. Yarbrough located the truck again on Gene Bell Cove and pulled up beside it, but it sped away again, running a third stop sign.
Yarbrough and Hawthorn pursued the truck which reached speeds in excess of 70 mph in a 25 mph zone. As it reached the intersection with Southshore again, several units were there to try to block it. The truck struck the unit of Sgt. Jeremy Simpson and continued on with multiple units in pursuit.
As the truck turned right onto Marion Anderson Road, running another stop sign, it reportedly collided with Simpson's unit again. Hawthorn notes that as he approached, Simpson had the truck blocked in and was pushing up against the driver's side door to keep the driver inside.
Hawthorn said he drove around to the passenger side and blocked that door as the driver, later identified as Clark, was trying to get out. A third unit had blocked the front of the truck to keep it from pulling away.
Clark was taken into custody without further incident. Clark had pleaded guilty on May 23, 2019, in district court to misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia and was sentenced to one year in jail, with all of it suspended, placed on six months' probation and ordered to pay $680 in fines and court costs.
Local on 10/08/2019