A Tennessee man is facing felony fleeing or evading police charges following a high speed chase through two states that culminated with the man being Tazered by Williamsburg police shortly after 6 p.m.
Dustin Omar Louden, 30, of Lafollette, Tenn., is also facing speeding, resisting arrest, and criminal mischief charges stemming from the pursuit, according to Williamsburg Police Chief Wayne Bird.
Bird said that the incident started when a Campbell County Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop. Louden pulled his Chevy S-10 King Cab pick-up truck over, and when the deputy got out of his cruiser, took off again. Williamsburg Police Officer Brandon Prewitt took up pursuit of the vehicle near the intersection of Old Jellico Creek and Jellico Creek Road about 5:45 p.m., and Louden’s vehicle reached speeds up to 80 miles per hour on Ky. 92W. Officer Jim Pool used a spike strip to disable one of the man’s left front tire near Bon Hollow.
The chase continued along Ky. 92W. Bird used his cruiser to block Louden from going north onto US25W forcing him to go south instead. He said Louden still reached speeds of up to 65 miles per hour driving with one wheel down to its rim.
"He was on both sides of the road and traffic was heavy. A lot of people were going to church. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church is out there. He was just driving way to dangerous so I told Jim Pool and Brandon Prewitt to executve a pit manuever on him."
The manuever caused the vehicle to spin out and stop near Savoy just south of Bill Berry’s Body Shop.
"He spun across the north bound lane onto the shoulder. Jim Pool got out of his car, and he actually tried to run over Jim Pool. Brandon Prewitt rammed him in the fendor and was able to get him stopped," Bird said.
"He was intoxicated and had quite a bit of cold beer in his vehicle. Other than that, I don’t know why he ran."
After the man exited the truck, he wouldn’t comply with Pool’s commands and police had to wrestle him to the ground and Tazer him in order to get him handcuffed, Bird said.
"I’m actually glad they took him out because traffic was so heavy with people going to church. I was afraid he was going to hit somebody. We’re real lucky he didn’t hit some innocent church person," Bird said. "From what we understand, he has numerous priors out of Tennessee for DUI and so forth," Bird added.
Two police cruisers sustained minor damage during the pursuit. Louden is also facing charges stemming from the Tennessee portion of the chase.
Officers taking part in the investigation included: Bird, Pool, Prewitt, Officer Brandon White and Lt. Jason Caddell. Sgt. Mike Taylor, who was initially off duty, had to come in to fill out a use of force report since Bird and Caddell were both involved in the chase.
