Carthage police were manning a safety check point on Highway 35 South near the southern edge of that city when a car approached, but took actions that indicated they were trying to evade contact with officers.
After pulling off the highway into a private drive, the car traveled across a front yard into a nearby grassy area, pulled back onto the highway and sped north.
As it exited the Carthage city limits on Highway 35, it was pursued by three Carthage Police Department units, which followed all the way into Kosciusko, with a Mississippi State Highway Safety Patrol unit joining in the chase. A Leake County Sheriff’s Office patrol unit joined the chase north of the city limits but broke off its pursuit as the chase crossed into Attala County.
During the chase, numerous objects were thrown out of the suspect vehicle, including a string grass trimmer.
The Attala County portion of the pursuit, which began shortly after 10 p.m., involved Attala County Sheriff’s deputies and continued into Kosciusko as the suspect vehicle traveled on a front tire that had been reduced to its rim.
Kosciusko Police Chief Herbert Dew said his department was alerted about the approaching vehicle chase and on-duty units were dispatched.
“What we tried to do is get to the lights and clear those intersections,” said Dew, in an effort to avoid injuries as the pursuit came up Veterans Memorial (Hwy 35 North) to the intersection of Highway 12. The Chief said the vehicle took a left there and then a right onto Highway 43 North, where it crashed just past Daylight Donuts.
“After he crashed out, we were actively involved with the search for the suspects,” said Dew.
Both the suspect and his passenger exited the crashed vehicle according to Attala County Sheriff Tim Nail.
“They bailed out and the female was taken into custody pretty quickly,” he said.
After the passenger’s arrest, Carthage police say, she told them some of the articles tossed from the vehicle during the chase were narcotics, though police have not recovered any at this time.
The male suspect, the driver of the vehicle, evaded law enforcement for a period of time during which Carthage, Kosciusko, and Attala County law enforcement searched for him, including the use of Attala County’s K9 unit.
The suspect was found hiding in a vehicle in the parking lot shared by Daylight Donuts and was placed under arrest by Kosciusko police who turned him over to Carthage law enforcement to face charges.
Indications are that Carthage charges would likely include felony fleeing and possibly destruction of evidence.
Although no charges have been filed against the suspect by Attala County or Kosciusko, Dew said that could change.
“We have no pending charges against him at this time, but possibly we could have some,” he said.
